


The Foster

by missmagillicuddy



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: Attempted Murder, Child Abuse, Child Murder, F/F, F/M, Murder
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-07
Updated: 2020-11-22
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:47:37
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 6
Words: 47,972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26870887
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/missmagillicuddy/pseuds/missmagillicuddy
Summary: Chloe is left an orphan when both of her parents are killed in a car accident at the age of 11. With no other family able to take her in, she ends up in the foster care system. Follow Chloe as she makes her way through the struggle we call life. This story will contain some dark themes. (rape, molestation, child abuse, murder and attempted murder)
Relationships: Maxine "Max" Caulfield/Chloe Price
Comments: 24
Kudos: 20





	1. The foster

The Foster

Miss Magillicuddy

AN: This story will feature some dark themes including child molestation, rape, murder and attempted murder, alcoholism (not in a main character)

Chapter 1: The Foster

Chloe Price was having an awesome time at her best friend Rachel Amber’s house. Her parent’s were letting her stay the weekend to celebrate the two best friends graduation from the 5th grade. The two blonds were giggling as they chased each other through the house. Rose was trying to quiet them down, promising that she would take them for ice cream in an hour if they spent the next one playing quietly outside. The two best friends shared a look, rolled their eyes in unison, and started heading for the door. As Chloe slid the door to step outside Rose called Rachel back to her, waving Chloe on and telling her she would send Rachel outside in a minute.

Chloe was already on the wooden swing set when Rachel joined her a couple of minutes later. Rachel was giving her a sad look as she climbed the ladder into the canopied slide entrance. Chloe could see by looking at her face that something was bothering her and started internally worrying.

“What wrong,” Chloe asked her, biting at her lip. Rachel looked away from her and leaned against the wooden railing, releasing a long sign.

“We’re moving,” Rachel told her with tears gathering in her eyes. “Mom had me invite you over for the weekend so that I could tell you, and we could have one last Rachel Chloe sleepover-a-thon.”

“What do you mean,” Chloe asked as the tears gathered in her eyes, too. “How far away are you moving? Is it very far?”

“We’re moving to Santa Barbara, California,” Rachel muttered brokenly. “Dad got hired as an assistant District Attorney there. It’s a way higher pay grade.”

Chloe grabbed onto Rachel and cried. The two girls hugged each other crying into each other’s shoulders. Chloe pulled away and looked at her, sharing a weak smile.

“I guess we could always call each other,” Chloe told her quietly before wiping her tears on her arm.

“Of course,” Rachel agreed. “ and once we get cell phones we can text each other all the time!”

Chloe nodded before the two girls hugged again. They could hear a car pulling slowly into the driveway. They pulled apart again, and Rachel looked towards the house.

“That’s weird. Dad’s not supposed to be home for another 2 hours,” Rachel said, as the sound of two car doors closed. The blonds shared a look again before racing off to the house to see why he was home early and try to talk him into taking them to the movies. The two girls ran into the kitchen, hurrying to close the door behind them and raced into the living room, skidding to a halt as they saw two police officer’s standing in the doorway instead of James Amber. The two tweens walked up to Rose and the officers to try and find out what was going on. As the approached Rose turned to look at them with her hand covering her mouth in shock. Her eyes landed on Chloe, and her eyes filled with tears.

“Oh, Chloe.” Rose knelt to the ground in front of her and took her hands. “Honey, there’s been an accident with your parents.”

“What do you mean,” Chloe asked, feeling as if the world had just dropped out from beneath her feet. She was staring at her in horror, unable to completely comprehend what she was hearing. “What happened to my parents?”

“I’m sorry, honey” Rose told her, placing a hand firmly on her shoulder. “They’re gone, Chloe.”

“What? Where did they go?”

The officer came and knelt next to Rose. “Sweetheart, your parents were involved in a car accident last night, and they have both died.”

Chloe woke felt like the walls were closing around her and her breaths were coming out too quickly. She felt like she couldn’t breathe. Her blue eyes slowly rolled up into her head, and she collapsed to the ground. She game to a few minutes later with the officer hovering over her shaking her shoulder and gently calling her name. What had been an excellent day not even an hour before had become the worst day of young Chloe Price’s life. She felt numb as the world around her continued and wouldn’t speak to anyone, not even Rachel Amber. It was hard for Rose to see because never once had there been silence between the two girls. They were always talking and laughing together. She felt her heart break as she watched Chloe stare blankly out the car window as they made their way to the hospital.

The next week passed by in a blur. Chloe’s uncle, Aaron, showed up 2 days after her parents passing. She was hardly at all for the whole week and had to be hospitalized for part of it due to her shock. Her uncle went with her to visit her parent’s lawyer, where they went over the will with a fine-tooth comb. They told him that the will hadn’t been updated in some time, but that it had listed first Williams parents, then Joyce’s parents as potential guardians. Unfortunately, Chloe had lost both sets grandparents so early in life that she didn’t even have any memories of them. The lawyer had continued on and asked if Aaron would be able to take over her guardianship. He explained to them that he wouldn’t be able to, as he worked a very busy schedule as an international pilot. They discussed that her parents had left everything to her, and that she would inherit it when she turned 18. They put the house on the market, and that money would go to her as well.

Over the following weekend they had a double funeral. Chloe could feel the ache in her stomach as she stood there in between her uncle and Rachel. A few days after that Rachel was gone. Two days after that her uncle had to return to work and went with her to meet with her new case worker. She spent the next month in a children’s home, being pushed around by bigger kids. They did have her start seeing a counselor, which eventually did get her talking. Once she was talking again they started looking for foster homes to place her in.

She met Ruthanne and Billy Hampden a few weeks before school was scheduled to start back up. Chloe and her case manager, Sandy, slowly made their way up the driveway of a house that looked a bit worn down. Sandy lifted her hand and softly knocked on the door, shaking hands with the couple that answered the door. After they were invited in, they spent the next few minutes telling the couple about her backstory. Before Sandy left, she turned to Ruthanne and Billy to remind them that Chloe needed her DCFS physical within 21 days, as well as letting them know when her next counseling session was. Ruthanne put an arm over Chloe’s shoulders with a wide grin and waved goodbye enthusiastically to Sandy.

Her demeanor changed drastically as Sandy drove off. She took her arm away from Chloe’s shoulder and pushed her slightly away and gave her an annoyed glance. She grunted at her and ordered her to follow her into the kitchen, shoving her into a chair and before walking over to the cabinets and pulling a plastic cup and a bottle of vodka. She filled the cup with ice before filling it halfway with vodka, and grabbing some cranberry juice out of the fridge to fill the rest of it. She took a long pull from the drink before walking over to the table and kicking out the chair across from Chloe.

“We have some things to talk about before you meet the others,” the woman told her with a snarl. Billy slid in the seat next to her and pulled out a pack of cigarettes, light one and blowing the smoke out in her face. Chloe wrinkled her nose and coughed which caused Billy to smirk at her in derision. “You will follow our rules, or you will be punished.”

Chloe’s eyes widened as she looked between the couple, confusion etched on her face. Ruthanne took another long drink from the cup before letting out a belch. She grabbed the cigarette pack from Billy and lit one up, too. The couple glared at her in contemplation for a moment before Billy opened his mouth to speak.

“The rules are as follows. 1, you will babysit your younger foster siblings. 2, you will do the laundry. 3. You will cook breakfast, lunch and dinner for yourself and your siblings. We only do cold lunches during the school year. You will make them every morning. 4, you will not complain.”

“What do you mean,” Chloe said angrily. “I’m not a house elf, I’m your foster kid.”

“You’re our paycheck,” Ruthanne snapped out in anger before spitting in her face. “You won’t like the consequences if you don’t do as told, you little bitch.”

Chloe looked between them in shock, wiping the spit on her face off on her shirt. She stared as Billy went to the doorway of the kitchen and screamed yelled out for the kids to come into the kitchen. He made his way back to the table and sat back down as 4 other children trailed in. The two boys were introduced as the couple’s biological children Eliot, who was the same age as Chloe, and Edward who was 9. Two other girls were introduced next as another paycheck option. Mindy Carlisle was a small 8-year-old with red hair that looked like it hadn’t been brushed for a month and chocolate brown eyes. Sophia Lewis was a 4 year old with freckles trailing across her button nose, and light brown, curly hair. She had the greenest eyes Chloe had ever seen. They reminded her of looking out at the trees after a rainstorm. She smiled at the two girls gently and offered a small wave.

“Chloe, it’s time for you to make lunch,” Ruthanne informed her as she grabbed the bottle of vodka and started heading for the living room, pausing as Chloe yelled out after her that she didn’t know how to cook. Ruthanne froze and turned around with an evil grin on her face.

“What, mommy dearest didn’t teach you before she went and got herself killed,” She asked in a baby voice before bursting into laughter and walking into the living room, Billy followed behind her releasing loud bellowing laugh and smacking her on the behind. Chloe stood in the kitchen frozen and blinking back tears. Eliot laughed and went back to his room to wait for lunch while the two girls and Edward sat at the kitchen table to make small talk with Chloe. She walked over to the pantry and peered inside, spotting bread and pulling it and a bottle of peanut butter out and making her way toward the counter. She set the items down and opened the fridge, spotting some jelly and heading back to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. As she plated up the sandwiches Edward ran up the hallway to get his brother, leaving the 3 girls alone for the moment.

“Sorry she said what she did,” Mindy told her gently with a frown. “This is one of the worst homes I’ve been in so far. Ruthanne and Billy are always drinking and smoking, and Eliot is really mean to us. He calls us the help. Edward is okay, but he doesn’t say much. The worst thing is when Billy visits us at night.”

“What happens when Billy visits at night,” Chloe asked them in confusion.

“I guess you’ll find out soon enough,” Mindy told her looking away with distant eyes. Eliot and Edward headed back in. Eliot shoulder checked her as he passed. Knocking her back against the counter, causing her to flinch in pain. The 5 of them ate their sandwiches in silence, after which the 2 younger girls led Chloe down to their room in the dingy basement. Chloe sighed as she unpacked her suitcase and placed a photo of her parents on the drawer between a set of bunkbeds and a daybed that looked like it had definitely seen better days.

Two weeks later, Chloe left the doctors office after receiving her DCFS physical. Ruthanne and Billy had canceled her counseling appointment, lying to the office and telling them they would call to reschedule. As the couple dragged her towards the car they informed her that now that she had her physical, the consequences for being lippy were actually going to happen. She rolled her eyes at them and slowly climbed into the back seat. Jumping as Ruthanne turned around to scream at her.

“Don’t roll your eyes at me, you little bitch,” Ruthanne’s voice went louder on the last word. “Do it again, and I’ll smack you so hard your dead parents will feel it in the grave.”

Chloe gasped and looked down with tears gathering in her eyes. She couldn’t believe that her life could change so fast. She went from having a happy life with her parents to living in squalor in the basement of the Hampden’s house.

“When we get home you need to do the dishes, fold the laundry, vacuum and help the little shit take a bath,” Billy told her as he lit up a cigarette in the car.

“You have arms and legs, why don’t you do it yourself,” Chloe snapped back at him as she glared out the window, rolling it down to try and get the smoke out of her face. “I’m not your slave. I won’t do it anymore.”

“Don’t talk back, you little bitch,” he snapped back at her, “And roll up the goddamn window! It bother’s my ears.”

“Shut up,” Chloe yelled back at him, ignoring his request to put up the window. Chloe felt a sudden burning on her lap and turned in shock to see the cigarette he had been smoking on her lap, burning a hole into her jeans. Chloe screamed brushing it off of her leg and covered the burn with her hand as tears streamed down her cheek.

“I said roll up the fucking window,” He screamed at her. Chloe jumped in her seat and hurried to comply. She cried the whole way home. As the front door closed behind them her arm was grabbed and she was forced into the kitchen and bent over the table. Ruthanne harshly pulled her shirt up her back as Billy removed his belt and quickly started whipping her with it. After 10 licks from the belt, he stopped and Ruthanne threw her to the floor. Chloe was sobbing in pain as Ruthanne screamed at her to get started on her chores before grabbing a bottle of whiskey and heading into the living room to watch TV with Billy.

The next month passed by in a horrible blur of abuse, screaming, crying and humiliation. Chloe had been whipped with Billy’s belt 4 more times, she had been smacked in the face by Ruthanne on several occasions, burnt with cigarettes and one time been locked into the back yard for so long that she peed herself. Ruthanne, Billy and Eliot spent the next two days after that talking to her in baby voices and asking her if she needed her pacifiers and a diaper change. A week after school started Chloe finally figured out what Mindy had meant when she said that Billy liked to come into their room at night.

Since Chloe had started living in the hell hole, she had become a light sleeper. She spent every day in a constant terror waiting for the next thing to happen. She heard the door creak open, and her eyes flashed open. She flashed her eyes over to the alarm clock and saw that it was 12:15 in the morning. She turned blearily to the door and was weary as she saw Billy stumbling drunkenly over towards her, after a night out drinking with his work buddies.

**The below scene's contain rape and molestation. Skip to the next bolded part if you want to completely skip.**

“What are you doing in here,” She asked him, afraid he was going to start hitting her with his belt again as he removed it. He sat next to her on the bed and gave her a look. She heard a slight whimper come from the bunkbed, and her eyes flicked over to see Sophia’s big brown eyes peering out over the edge of her blanket in terror.

“My bitch already fell asleep and I’m horny,” He told her, as he finally got his belt all the way loose and dropped it to the floor.

“What is horny,” Chloe asked as Billy kicked off his pants and sat at the edge of her bed.

“Sit next to me, and I’ll show you,” He told her with a strange look on his face that Chloe didn’t understand. When she didn’t move he smacked her in the face and told her to get to it. Chloe moved quickly after that and sat next to him, shaking in fear. He lifted her nightdress from her body and pulled her underwear down.

“What are you doing,” She asked as she tried grabbing for the blanket to cover herself up. He smacked her hands away from the blankets and grabbed her wrist, guiding it towards his lap. The next few minutes passed in a blur of humiliation for Chloe. Between her legs as burning from where his hand had clutched her tightly. The frequency of his visits increased after that night and it only got worse. One night Chloe woke up to him forcing himself on Sophia, grabbing the back of her head and forcing their lips together, as he thrust himself against her struggling body. Chloe felt the horror dawn in her eyes and flew out of bed trying to pull him from atop her. Pulling at his hair and shirt.

“Get off of her,” She yelled at him loudly, “She is only 4 years old. You leave her alone!”

Billy flew up from the bed in anger and backhanded her to the ground, grabbing for his belt and whipping her several times, growling at her in anger. After a moment he paused and grabbed her by the hair, lifting her by it, throwing her onto the bed, and climbing straddling her. He pushed his pants and boxers down, leaving himself bare below the waist, and forced Chloe’s underwear down her legs.

“You wanna protect her so bad? You’re gonna get it worse, whore,” He told her before slamming inside of her. Chloe screamed out in pain as her hymen was breached for the first time. The blond turned her head to stare unseeingly at the dresser as the man moaned and groaned above her and dripped drops of sweat onto her body. He froze several minutes later and removed himself from her body, yelling over his shoulder for her to clean herself up as he strutted from the room. Chloe stared ahead at the wall for a while longer before coming back to herself and struggling to her feet. She shakingly made her way to the bathroom, feeling blood seep down her thighs. She sat in the shower under the steamy stream of water for half an hour before making her way back to her bedroom.

The next several months passed in agony. Billy visited them almost every night after Ruthanne would pass out in her drunken stupor. He mostly hurt Chloe, as she would work hard to protect the two younger girls. One time, though, after threatening to call her case manager and tell her what was happening, he found a new way to punish Chloe. He forced her to sit up in bed and tied her to it in a sitting position as he forced himself first onto Mindy, then after her Sophia. He laughed as she screamed through her sobs for him to leave them alone. After he finished with them, he came over and did the same to her, laughing in her face as she pleaded for him to stop.

**End of sexual assault's**

Not only was her homelife awful, but school was also going terribly for her. She had fallen behind in her class. She never had time to do her homework because she was constantly doing chores and taking care of the younger family members. She knew she was failing several of her classes. It killed her inside to be doing so badly in school. She loved school, and her parents would be so disappointed in how she was doing.

As the months continued, things continued to go terribly for her. She couldn’t remember one happy moment she had had in the last 6 months. She spent her days struggling in school, her evenings taking care of the younger girls and her nights being raped by her foster father or comforting her foster sisters after he had used them. By the end of May, Chloe had felt like she was reaching her breaking point. She hadn’t noticed the suspicious looks that Ruthanne had started giving herself, Mindy, and Sophia.

One day she walked into the house to complete silence. Normally when she would come in, Mindy and Sophia would greet her at the doors welcoming her with hugs and hellos. That was the one thing about this shithole that Chloe liked. She loved having her little sisters. She peeked around herself nervously and made her way into their basement bedroom. She peeked into the room and saw two lumps of the girls sleeping in their beds. She smiled gently and made her way over to the bed, sitting down next to Sophia and running her fingers through the hair. Pausing as her fingers reached something wet and pulled her hands away. She stared at her hands in confusion, staring at the red sticky liquid on her hands. It’s paint. It’s gotta be paint. She kept repeating that in her head over hand over as she lowered the blanket from over Sophia’s body. She screamed in horror and turned her around and started shaking her shoulders.

“Sophia,” She screamed in misery. “Please wake up!”

It hit her suddenly that Mindy was in her bed above Sophia and she jumped up and pulled the blanket down on her. She screamed again as she saw the bleeding and broken body of Mindy, both girls had had their throats slit. Chloe turned to run to the phone and call for an ambulance, bumping directly into Ruthanne. She was sobbing loudly as she saw her.

“Ruthanne, someone has killed Mindy and Sophia,” She cried out loudly. Ruthanne looked at her and laughed evilly, before she grabbed a teddy bear that was sitting on a shelf and pulled out a hidden camera.

“That’s what happens to little sluts who decide to fuck my husband,” Ruthanne told her with a crazy glint in her eyes. Chloe felt her eyes widen in horror. WHAT? This crazy woman killed them?

“We didn’t choose be with him,” Chloe cried brokenly. “He hurt us!”

“Shut up, you ugly little whore,” the woman screamed drunkenly. “Don’t worry, you’ll be with your parents and your little sisters soon enough.”

Chloe realized that Ruthanne had a butcher knife in the hand that wasn’t holding the camera. Chloe backed away in terror until she came up against a wall, Ruthanne matching her step for step. Ruthanne lifted the knife up and plunged it directly into Chloe’s stomach. Chloe felt as if fire was plunging into her stomach as Ruthanne pulled the knife out and stabbed her 3 more times in quick succession. Chloe slid down the wall as she lost consciousness. The last thing she saw before her eyes closed was Ruthanne’s malicious grin.

The first thing Chloe was aware of was the pain in her abdomen. She was taking shallow breaths, but her survival instincts had kicked in. I have to get out of here. Chloe crawled towards the ladder of the bunkbed and pulled herself up unsteadily. She headed out the door and toward the stairs, leaning heavily against the railing as she made her way up them. She reached the top of the stairs and made her way down the hallway towards the front door, using the wall to support her body. She peeked into the kitchen and saw Ruthanne standing at the sink, trying to wash blood off her hands. Chloe saw a bottle of vodka sitting on the counter closer to herself than to Ruthanne. She reached for it and brought it down on Ruthanne’s head before making her way out the front door.

Chloe slowly made her way towards the neighbor’s house, tripping a few times and pulling herself up. By the time she made it next door, she felt like she was crawling through tons of honey. She reached her hand up and knocked roughly three times. She fell over in a heap moments before the door opened, the lady on the other side screamed in horror as she yelled for someone over her shoulder to call an ambulance and got down to check for a pulse.

Chloe opened her eyes and looked around herself in confusion. I don’t hurt anymore. What happened? She looked around herself and saw someone laying on the ground at her feet, as a young woman with red hair hovered over her, pressing a towel tightly against her wound. The red headed woman was screaming at a man with dark blond hair that she was losing the girl, and that the ambulance needed to hurry. The man informed her that they were getting close.

Chloe stood around watching as a couple of ambulances and police cars tore up the street and squealed to a stop. Paramedics came running up the driveway towards the woman trying to save the girls life. Two of them took over for the woman, one still putting pressure on the wounds. Another pressed a handheld oxygen pump. Another two paramedics ran up the drive with a stretcher for them to put the still form on for transportation to the hospital. A pair of officer’s followed the trail of blood to the house next door. They found the door wide open with a smear of blood on the door. They walked in and saw a woman out cold on the kitchen floor, a broken bottle of vodka on the ground next to her. An officer paused to check for a pulse, while another officer followed the trail of blood down a set of stairs and found two more prone bodies laying in a bunkbed. The officer immediately got on her radio and called in to the office for backup and a crime scene unit.

Outside Chloe watched as the paramedics loaded the girl into the ambulance. She didn’t know why, but she felt compelled to follow the girl and got into the ambulance with her. Watching as the machines measured the slowing heart rate. Why does this girl look so familiar? She stared at the face of the girl for several minutes and followed after as the paramedics rushed her into the hospital, listening to them inform the staff of the situation.

“Young female, probably between 9 and 11 by the looks of it, Jane Doe, and multiple stab wounds to the torso,” the man told the nursing staff as they rushed towards a trauma room. Chloe watched as a tube was pushed down the girls throat and hooked to a machine to help her breath. As she watched the nursing staff and doctors working furiously on the deathly pale girl, she realized why she recognized her. That’s me. She watched as the machine switched over showing that she had flatlined. Have I just died? As soon as the thought crossed her mind, she felt a magnetic pull from above her. She floated out through the ceiling, and into the sky. She looked around herself and saw that she appeared to be in outer space. In the great distance she could see the brightest light she had ever seen. She could feel the light calling out for her and decided to head towards it. She had never felt herself move so fast. The trip seemed almost instant. She looked around herself and saw that within the light, there were figures that were even brighter than it coming towards her.

Chloe felt peace come crashing into her body, and a love as deep as a thousand oceans. Out of the light two figures were separating from the rest and coming towards her. She recognized them as her parents and felt elated. Mommy and daddy! She could feel their presences wrap around her. It was the greatest hug she had ever felt. She could feel in every fiber of her soul the amount of love the two had for her. There was no speaking, but they could understand each other. They were telling her how much they had missed her and mourned with her about what she had experienced since their deaths. After what felt like months another presence joined them. This presence was brighter than them all and the love that Chloe felt from it was so overwhelming. She felt that anything she could have done would have been forgiven by this entity. She felt the presence wrap her soul in a tight hug. Then she was informed that she had to go home.

What? I don’t want to go back! I don’t want to be alone anymore! The presence held her tightly as it informed her that she still had a purpose in life and that she wouldn’t always be alone. Some day there would be a family that would take her in as one of their own. One day there would be a love for her so strong, that they would spend many years together in bliss. She was told that it was going to take some time to heal, but that she will someday have the love and support needed to move on. How will I ever know when I meet this person? How will I trust anyone again? 

The presence sent calming waves of love through her being, and she suddenly knew that when she met this person, they were going to be in the woods, surrounded by the most beautiful, blue butterflies she had ever seen. They would almost seem to glow with an ethereal blue glow. She also suddenly knew a name… Max? She shared a long goodbye with her parents. They informed her that they would watch out for Mindy and Sophia once the girls joined them, and that they would always be with her and would love her no matter what.

No sooner had she agreed to go back, did her eyes slowly flutter open. She could hear a constant beeping coming from around her, and the sound of a ventilator regulating her breathing. As soon as the sound registered in her mind, she felt herself gagging on something in her throat. Her heartrate raised, as she started to panic which caused an alarm to go off while a nurse rushed in. What is happening?

“It’s okay Chloe,” the nurse said in a soothing voice. “I’m going to pull the breathing tube out of your throat. It’ll be over quickly.”

The nurse slowly eased out the tube, speaking in soothing, calming tones the whole time. “You’ve been asleep for quite a while. We were starting to worry you wouldn’t wake up.”

“How long was I asleep,” Chloe croaked then coughed gently, trying to clear her throat as the nurse handed her water to sip on. Chloe felt the cool water slip down her throat, helping to rehydrate her dry throat.

“Just over a month,” the black-haired nurse stated. “I’m Becky, by the way. I’m really glad to see that you’re awake, now. I really need to get the doctor so that they can examine you. I’ll be right back, okay?”

Chloe nodded at her and watched as she left the room and closed the door behind her. As she turned to look back in front of her she jumped and let out a slight yelp. Mindy and Sophia were standing in front of her, but Chloe could see through them to the chair behind”

The two of them smiled at her sadly and floated up to rest on her hospital bed. They each hovered a hand over hers. She could feel the energy coming from them and felt as if she could feel it swirling with her own. She looked up at them with tears filling her eyes.

“I’m so sorry I couldn’t save you,” She whispered to them, as she wiped at the tear slowly traveling down her cheeks.

“I’m glad at least one of us made it,” she heard Mindy’s voice comment in her mind and her visage smiled at her weakly. “We didn’t want to leave until we knew you were okay.”

“Thank you for always trying to protect me,” Sophia’s voice floated in serenely. “You were the bestest big sister I could have asked for.”

“if I were the best sister, I could have saved you,” Chloe said brokenly, as a sob escaped through her lips.

“You were at school,” Sophia reminded her. “you couldn’t have stopped it.”

The two girls suddenly looked towards one of the corners of the ceiling. She felt their thoughts float into her mind once more. We’re being called home, sissy. Joyce and William are here to get us. They ask us to remind you they’re gonna watch out for us.

The two beautiful little girls were enclosed in a beautiful white light. As the light slowly faded, Chloe was alone again. Minutes later the doctor was back in the room, examining Chloe thoroughly. She was given a clean bill of health and given an explanation as to her recovery process. She spent the rest of the time watching cartoons in between visits with the nursing staff. She fell asleep fairly early that night as she was still adjusting to having been in a coma for a month. She woke up in the middle of the night and got up to use the bathroom. As she stumbled her way back out to her hospital bed she yelled in fright, as there was a figure perched next to her bed. A nurse ran in and turned on the light’s and began the process of calming her down. As Chloe looked back towards the bed, she saw there was no one there. The nurse left a few minutes later, turning off the light behind her. Chloe turned on the TV to use as a nightlight and moved her eyes from corner to corner of the room, trying to remember the dream she was having before she woke up. She could remember it was her and another girl with freckles and pretty blue eyes that shined at her with love. Who is that? As she continued to watched the tv she could feel a presence next to her. The hair stood up on her and she slowly turned her head. She came face to face with an old woman and jumped about a foot in the bed.

“Who are you,” she asked the woman quietly with widened eyes.

“My name was Esther Jones,” the woman told her, but her mouth didn’t move. “I was in room 210. When my family gets here, can you tell them I left my will in the bible of my nightstand?”

Chloe could only nod dumbly, as she stared at the woman in confusion. The woman smiled at her gently and apologized for scaring her initially, before being enveloped in a white light and disappearing like her foster sisters did earlier. Chloe was awake for another hour, mind running in circles over what had just happened. I don’t understand. I never saw anything like this before. Well, I guess the doctor did say I died. Maybe I can see dead people like that kid from The 6th Sense. Chloe’s mind slowly relaxed, as she fell asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

The Foster

Miss Magillicuddy

AN: I don’t think I have any warnings for this chapter

Chloe spent the next few days under the watchful eyes of the nursing staff and doctors in the hospital. They were evaluating her mental acuity, as well as her mobility. The morning after she saw the spirit of the old lady, she had a conversation with one of the nurses. She had asked her if the family of Ester Jones had been by yet, and if not if they could relay the message to them about the will that was left in the elderly woman’s bible. The nurse had given her a strange, considering look before she left the room after writing her blood pressure down in the chart.

The nurse had showed back up an hour later, asking her how she knew the name of the patient that had been in the room. The shocked look on her face as Chloe mentioned seeing the woman beside her bed the night before had the 12-year-old releasing a giggle. It appeared that the nurse either didn’t believe her, or thought that she had gone insane, as within half an hour there was a doctor in there asking her if she had hallucinated before. She had argued that she wasn’t hallucinating, and that she had also seen her former foster sisters before they went into the white light. It wasn’t until they got confirmation from the family of Esther Jones about the will that they had decided maybe she wasn’t crazy.

Chloe watched as 2 of the doctors headed off to the corner of her room and began frantically whispering together. She could only hear snippets of the conversations, phrases like flat lined, died, near death experience and mediums. After talking quietly in the corner for over 10 minutes, the pair of doctors came back over to stand next to Chloe’s bedside and started asking her if she remembered anything from when she was asleep. She watched the amazement grow in their eyes as she told them about watching herself be brought to the hospital and about joining her parents in the light for what had felt like months… until the brightest figure in the area told her she had to come back. When they left the room half an hour later, she could hear them discussing the possibilities, and heard them mention that it was almost miraculous how quickly she had recovered from the stabbing and the coma.

Sandy had come in the day after she woke up to check in on here. She had tears in her eyes as she emphatically apologized for her last foster experience. She told her that she was looking for a permanent foster family for her, one who was looking to foster to adopt. She was wanting to make sure that she went to a family that actually wanted to help raise a child, and not just a paycheck. She had informed Chloe that both Ruthanne and Billy had been put behind bars and were awaiting trial, but that she doubted she would need to testify because they had been able to find all the evidence they needed. She had also told her that she had missed the end of the school year, and that her grades hadn’t qualified for passing on to the 7th grade. Chloe had actually felt some relief at that, as she knew that if she had gone to the higher grade she would have been lost. She also wanted to make her parents proud. She remembered they had told her they would love her no matter what, but she wanted to do her best.

Sandy had returned to see her a few more times while waiting for her to be discharged from the hospital. The day she was leaving had come pretty quickly for Chloe. She was kind of sad to be leaving because she really liked a nurse, Sheri, that was there. She was a shorter, plumper woman in her mid-fifties with kind green eyes and bi-focals. She had been extremely sweet to Chloe every time she was on the clock. The woman had shared stories with her about her favorite place on earth, Disney World. She had also told Chloe funny stories about one of the trauma doctors that she had to be married to since she was 18. When Sheri had seen some of Chloe’s doodles on her napkins, she had even gone out of the way to buy her a sketchbook and some really nice pencils. The woman gave her a hug before Sandy led her out of the hospital and on the way to her new foster home. Sheri told her that she hoped to see her again someday, but hopefully under better circumstances.

They stopped at the nurse’s station on their way of the hospital, as Chloe wanted to say goodbye to some of the other people who had helped care for her. One of them had come out from behind the station to give her a hug, and had teasingly asked if she saw any spirits hanging around the station. As the two of them headed out towards Sandy’s car in the parking lot, the case worker updated Chloe about her new foster family.

“They’re called the Marsh family,” The kindly woman told her as she popped the trunk of her impala and stored a bag of Chloe’s items back there. “The dad’s name is Gabriel, mom’s is Karen, and they have three girls. Kate is 11, Camille is 7 and Lynn is 3. They all seem very nice, but I want you to promise me... If anything starts to feel like the last place, I want you to call me immediately.”

“I will,” Chloe swore to her seriously, before looking out her window. The two of them made their way through town, Chloe growing sad and contemplative as they drove past the two whales diner. She wished she could have stayed with her parents, but she understood for a reason she couldn’t explain why she had to come back. Things had been… different since she came back. She had always loved art, but since she woke up from her coma it was as if she just knew how to draw things. She wasn’t a Picasso by any means, but she thought for a 12 year old she was pretty damn good. She was pulled from her thoughts as she realized the car was no longer moving, and a hand was resting on her arm.

“We’re here, Chloe,” Sandy told her gently, a soft smile lifting the corners of her mouth. “Are you ready to go in, or do you need a minute?”

Chloe gave a slow, nervous sigh before she slowly nodded her head, unbuckled her seatbelt, and opened the car door. She climbed out of the car and slowly traversed her way up to the front door. Sandy reached up and rang the doorbell, Chloe shifting nervously next to her until it opened revealing a blond woman in a long black skirt and blue button up blouse.

“Hi there,” she said in a tone Chloe felt should be used more on younger children than a tween. “You must be Chloe! I’m Karen Marsh, it’s so lovely to meet you! Come in! Come In!”

Chloe looked at Sandy with a disbelieving look before making her way into the home. She could already tell this house would be nicer than the last one. She could see many pictures of a blond family covering the walls. They looked to be a much happier family than the last. Karen led them into the family room where the man from the pictures was sitting on a loveseat with a little blond toddler on his lap. On the couch were 2 other girls, also blond. They both looked to be wearing the same style of clothing as their mother. Karen walked over to sit next to Gabriel on the loveseat, gesturing for Chloe to join the other girls on the couch. Chloe sat nervously next to her, as Sandy sat in an armchair that was positioned between the couch and loveseat.

“Let me guess… you’re Chloe, and you’re Sandy,” Gabriel said laughingly, pointing at the opposite people. Chloe giggled a bit at him as he continued on in a more serious matter. “My name is Gabriel. I’m so glad to meet you!”

“It’s nice to meet you, too,” She responded quietly, averting her eyes nervously to look around the area. She spotted a piano off in one of the corners and noted that there were a few bookcases with several books upon them. She didn’t spot any tv’s in the room and wondered if the family had any. The furniture they were seated in was situated around a large stone fireplace that had a large painting of The Last Supper hanging over it.

“These are our daughters, Kate, Camille and this little one is Lynn,” He told her kindly. Kate and Camille smiled shyly and gave little waves as he introduced them. “We’re the Marsh’s. I’m sure Sandy must have told you this, but I wanted to introduce ourselves properly.”

“We want to welcome you to our home,” Karen told her. “We have been thinking about going into doing foster care for a long time, and we just know that god must have sent you to us. Are you a Christian?”

“Oh, well, I’ve never been to church before,” Chloe told her nervously, “but I think I could believe it. When I died I was somewhere really peaceful with my mom and dad and there was another figure there with us who sent me back.”

“Well, how…. Lovely,” Karen said with a very strange look upon her face. “We go to church every Sunday morning and Wednesday night. Next week we’re going to have Vacation Bible Study, so that will be every night next week. Would you like to go to that?”

“Sure,” Chloe said slowly. Karen jumped in to speak almost as soon as she finished talking.

“Well that’s great,” She enthused. “How about you little ladies go upstairs or outside and play while we grownups talk?”

Chloe stared at her for a moment before nodding, as she felt the girls next to her standing up. Gabriel passed Lynn off to Kate who walked towards the entrance of the family room.

“Do you want to go outside, or upstairs,” the girl asked her softly

“Uhhh, I guess outside. I haven’t been able to play outside much this year.”

Kate nodded and the four of them headed outside through the backdoor. They had a fairly large backyard that had a swing set and a large trampoline. After Kate asked her what she wanted to do, they all headed towards the trampoline, crawling through the netting to get through and started jumping. The 4 of them were playing a game of popcorn, where one of them would sit cross-legged in the middle of the trampoline, while the others jumped around them trying to make them ‘pop’. They were having a pretty fun time, all giggles and yells. Half an hour later the door opened, and Karen was calling them in.

The four girls trekked back across the yard to go back into the house. Chloe saw Sandy standing next to the door, with her briefcase. Before she left, she quietly reminded Chloe about her promise to call her if anything was wrong. She told her that they had brought her stuff in while she was outside, and that it was sitting on her bed to unpack. They exchanged a brief hug before Chloe was left alone with the new family. Karen walked up to her and put an arm over her shoulder and told her she would show her to her room, which it appeared she was sharing with Kate.

She saw that they each had a lofted bed with a desk beneath it. One of the bed’s was completely bare, the other had grey and light-yellow bedding with a lot of pillows. She saw that the desk under that had a lived-in look, while the other was empty. There were two doors that opened to reveal closets, one empty and the other full of skirts, dresses, button up shirts and cardigans. There were also two dressers, one of which had a cage holding a fluffy black bunny, that popped it’s head up with its nose twitching. Karen walked over to the plain bed where Chloe’s items were sitting.

“I figured I could help you go through your stuff before we put it away,” The woman told here before unzipping the bag. “I need to look through it and see what is acceptable for you to wear. After that, we’ll go shopping to get you some new clothing and bedding and some decorations for your side of the room.”

Chloe stared at her for a moment in confusion, before nodding. _What does she mean by appropriate clothing?_ Kate came to stand beside her, giving her a sort of shrug that seemed to read ‘sorry, I know she’s a bit much, but what can we do?’ Chloe gave her a brief shy smile, before looking back to Karen. As they were pulling out the clothes it was being put into 3 piles. Keep, donate, and trash. The keep pile was comprised of the few dresses she had, as well as pairs of her underwear that were still in decent condition. The donate pile had all of her jeans, pants and tank tops. The trash pile had anything that Karen deemed as too worn to keep, including underwear that had small holes in them, or things that were too stained.

Chloe and Kate were putting the ‘acceptable’ items on hangers and putting them in Chloe’s closet as Karen was sorting through her stuff. Chloe stuffed her underwear and camisoles into one of the drawers of her dresser. She felt kind of weird about another person sorting through her stuff and deciding what she could or couldn’t wear, but they were her new guardians. After they put the rest of her keep’s away, they took the donate pile and trash pile downstairs, setting the donate pile by the door of the garage, and throwing the other pile into the trash bin in the kitchen. Karen grabbed a garbage back to put the donations in and headed into the garage to put them into the trunk of the Chrysler town and country. Chloe, Kate and Camille piled into the car as they waited for Karen to get in. Lynn was staying behind with Gabriel for her nap time.

As the car turned on, there was a soft song playing on the radio talking about angel’s saving someone’s life. Chloe wasn’t paying too close of attention to the music. She spent the ride into town chatting with Kate and Camille, trying to get to know each other. Kate was so excited when Chloe told her she enjoyed art and told her that she enjoyed drawing cartoons. Camille chimed in to tell them that she enjoyed making up stories. The three girls were still talking as they pulled into the parking lot of Sears. The four of them headed into the store, with Karen leading them towards to girls section.

Karen led her around the section, grabbing different skirts, blouses, and dresses for her to try on. Chloe felt really weird as she tried them on. Before her parent’s died, she mostly just wore jeans, t-shirts and hoodies. She had to show the matriarch of the Marsh family each outfit, so she could decide which was most acceptable. She had Kate and Camille trying on some new outfit’s, as well. After picking out several outfits for each of each of the girls, she headed to the toddler section to grab some new clothing for Lynn. She stopped briefly on the way to grab some new underwear and training bra’s for the two older girls. The next stop after the toddler section was the shoe section, so they could pick out some new shoes to go with Chloe’s new outfits. She also grabbed a new pair of shoes for each of the girls, as she didn’t want anyone to feel left out. The last place they went before heading to the checkout was the bedding section. Chloe picked out a sky-blue comforter and a light shade of gray Egyptian cotton sheets. She also grabbed two pillows that she knew would be extremely comfortable.

The group headed home after a quick trip to Walmart for room decorations. The four of them carried the bags into the house carrying them up the stairs to their bedrooms. Kate unpacked her own stuff before helping Chloe with hers, while Karen headed down the stairs to start on making dinner. Kate was working on setting up Chloe’s bed while she was putting her new clothing on hanger in her closet. Chloe laid out her new shoes on a small shelf that was at the bottom of her closet, trying to keep everything organized. She had a feeling that Karen liked everything to be ship shape. The two girls started working together to hang up Chloe’s decorations.

“So,” Kate asked her conversationally, holding up the edge of a poster while Chloe dug out a push pin. “What grade are you going to be in?”

“6th grade,” Chloe told her, and continued after a brief pause, “I had a really bad year last year, and have to repeat the grade. I wasn’t in the best home previously.”

“I’m sorry you have to repeat the year,” Kate told her sadly. “On the plus side, though, we’re going to be in the same grade! We can study together!”

“That’ll be nice,’ Chloe responded with a sad smile, “I wasn’t able to study at my last home. I had to take care of my younger foster sisters. I had to do all the cooking for them, and all the chores in the household.”

“That’s awful,” Kate whispered to her sadly. “Can i… would you like a hug?”

Chloe looked at the other blond and gave a quick nod. She felt she could trust this girl. She felt a warmth in Kate’s hug, she felt that the girl genuinely cared for everyone. As they separated Kate gave her a kind smile. She smiled shakily back, and took a step away.

“Thanks,” Chloe muttered quietly. She paused as she heard a yell coming from the bottom of the stairs that dinner was ready. “We should probably head down.”

Kate smiled, and the two of them made their way to the dining room. Everyone else was already seated as they walked in. They took the empty seats at the table, side by side. Karen sat on one end of the table with Gabriel sitting across from her. Kate and Chloe sat across from Camille and Lynn, who was sitting in a booster seat placed on a chair by Karen. Before eating the family joined hands for a prayer, Chloe linked between Kate and Karen.

“Father God,” Gabriel intoned from his seat, “We want to thank you for providing the delicious meal that Karen has prepared for us. We also want to thank you for bringing us Chloe. We are so glad to have her join our family. I ask that you protect our family, and help Chloe to feel at home as she adjusts to this new family. Amen.”

The rest of them repeated after him before they started passing the serving dishes around the table. Chloe took one of the chicken breasts from the platter, before passing it along clockwise to Karen. By the time everyone had gotten all the servings, she looked at her plate. On top of the chicken breast she had grabbed, which smelled really delicious, she had taken a scoop of rice, broccoli and carrots. Chloe made a happy sound as she took a bit of the chicken. She had been told that it had been marinated in a homemade Italian dressing overnight, and that that was why it was so flavorful. The family spent the time trying to get to know her and making her feel welcome. _This is already a better start that the last place… and I think I found a great friend in Kate._

After dinner, the family stayed seated at the table to play some board games. They told her that they liked to have family game night a couple of times per week, and that tonight was one of those nights. Chloe found herself really enjoying the evening. Lynn had wanted to play Candyland, so they played that first, as her bedtime was earlier. They wanted to let her have a chance to play some of her games while she was awake. Camille had wound up winning, which had caused Lynn to have a bit of a meltdown. She apparently didn’t like losing things. Karen apologized and told them that it was time for Lynn’s bedtime, and took her up to get her ready for bed.

They played a few more games that night. Kate won at Monopoly, while Chloe was the first to go bankrupt. They played a couple of games of Yahtzee and finished the night by playing ‘The Game of Life.’ That had always been one of Chloe’s favorites to play with Rachel. After cleaning up the board games, the girls were sent upstairs to get ready for bed. Chloe and Kate headed to the bathroom to brush their teeth. They were giggling together as they made their way into their bedroom and climbed into their beds. The two of them continued talking for a while before Gabriel popped his head in the door and told them it was time to settle down and go to sleep. The two of them continued whispering between them for a few minutes before Kate eventually wound up falling asleep. Chloe’s last thoughts as her eyes slipped closed were about how comfortable her new bed was. She really hoped this family continued to work out for her.


	3. Chapter 3

The Foster

Miss Magillicuddy

AN: mentions of past rape, and Mrs. Marsh and Auntie Marsh being bitches.

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The next six months went by very quickly for Chloe. She really liked the whole family, but Kate was definitely her favorite Marsh. They seemed to bond incredibly quickly, spending almost all of their time together. That isn’t to say the newest family member didn’t spend time with everyone else. The kids all enjoyed playing games together, hide and seek, boardgames and tea parties with Lynn. It was different with Kate. The two of them were practically connected at the hip, spending their free time together doing arts and crafts, or Kate teaching Chloe how to French braid hair, and Chloe teaching Kate about the things she had missed growing up in a strict Christian family. The two of them were opposites. Kate soft spoken and shy, Chloe loud and outgoing. Chloe found that worked for them, as one’s strength was the other’s weakness. She truly felt she had a real sister in Kate.

The two of them even shared 6 of their 8 class periods together in school, which Chloe was very happy to be excelling in again. The only two periods they had different were study hall and English. Even in school, the two girls found that they had different strengths. Chloe often helped Kate with the science and math homework. Kate would check over Chloe’s English and reading assignments. The girls had also each been told by Karen that they would need to pick out a new instrument to learn. The blond woman had begun teaching Chloe how to play the piano almost immediately after settling in, stating that she taught it to all of her girls. Now that the two of them were in middle school, there was both an orchestra and band. Kate had picked out a violin for her new instrument almost immediately. It had taken Chloe longer to decide. She had stated that she wanted to learn to play the guitar, but Karen had pointed out that the school band was a marching band and didn’t have that option. The girl had eventually decided on the cello, drawn to its almost melancholy sound.

Chloe had been helping the other girl to become more confident. One Saturday night towards the end of August, Karen and Gabriel had given the girls a reward for babysitting the younger sisters the night before while the adults went on a date night. The girls had said they wanted to hang out at the mall and that they were going to window shop and maybe catch a movie. Kate told the parents they would call them when they were done. After the parents drove off, the two girls headed into the mall, following the smell of popcorn to the theater. They each got a ticket for Monster House but snuck into the theater showing Clerks 2. They looked for the darkest corner to sit in and spent the whole time cracking up. The two of them also found out they could check out movies at the library, and that for some reason the librarian didn’t card them. They would rent all of the films the strict parents wouldn’t allow and watch them on their laptop splitting a pair of ear buds while the adults slept 2 rooms over. The two of them told each other everything… well, almost everything. Chloe had yet to confide in the girl about the fact that she had briefly died and could now communicate with the dead. She was so afraid the girl would think she was crazy.

That changed one night in mid-February. It had been a pretty fun day. They had had a Marsh family get together, inviting over Gabriel’s side of the family. Between Gabriel’s 3 sisters and himself, there had been 11 kids in the house. Along with his sisters, his aunt Gertrude had come along. She had told Chloe when she met her that she could just call her Auntie Marsh, like the rest of the kids had. Chloe had had a pretty fun time hanging out with the cousins. They all seemed pretty reserved and religious, but that didn’t stop their good time. The group had played a bunch of games in the finished basement, starting off with charades, then moving on to telephone, hide and seek and finally sardines. Eventually the group thinned out, only leaving one of Gabriel’s sisters and Gertrude. Kate and Chloe had been upstairs, helping Aunt CeCe put her younger children down for a nap. As they headed back down the stairs to search for their sketchpads, they heard Karen and Gertrude conversing in the kitchen.

“Karen, are you sure about this Chloe girl,” the older woman said in a concerned voice. Kate shared a look with Chloe, confusion forming on her face, “She seems nice and all, but she’s in foster care. You know that some of those kids can be really bad kids. I know the two of you really feel drawn to help, I just worry about your real kids.”

“She seems to be okay, so far,” Karen responded in a hushed voice, as if trying to make sure their voices wouldn’t carry, “but don’t worry, Gertie. I’m keeping my eye on her. I love my husband, but he can sometimes be a bit too giving. Plus, she does agree to come to church with us two nights a week. I’ve talked to Pastor Skip and have him doing secret welfare checks for the girls.”

“I’m kind of surprised Kate agreed to that,” Gertrude stated in surprise, causing Karen to snort.

“Oh, the kids and Gabriel don’t know,” Karen chortled. “He asks them things kind of on the sly and relays the information back to me. He said none of them seem to be being hurt by Chloe.”

“She was molested, yes,” Gertrude questioned.

“mmhmm. Pretty badly,” Karen answered.

“Yeah, then definitely keep your eyes on it,” Gertrude told her, “ _Those kids_ usually wind up doing the same thing to normal kids.”

Kate dragged Chloe back up the stairs before they could hear the response from Karen. Chloe could feel wetness gathering up in her eyes, and felt shame growing in the pit of her stomach. Kate tugged Chloe’s hand, leading her to their room and closing the door behind them. As soon as the two of them were alone, Kate turned to her and drew her into a tight hug and began rubbing her back. Chloe broke into shuddering sobs, resting her head on Kate’s shoulder as she cried.

“I would never do that to anybody,” Chloe choked out between sobs. “I tried so hard to protect the other girls from that… pig.”

“I know you wouldn’t,” Kate soothed, continuing to rub her back. “If she can’t see the beautiful soul you are after living with us all these months, she’s crazy. I can’t believe I’m actually related to her. Do you… wanna talk about it?” 

Chloe pulled back from the other girl and made her way over to a couple of bean bag chairs they had situated between their beds. She placed her head in her hands and started taking slow, deliberate breaths.

“After my parent’s died… I went to a family called the Hampden’s,” Chloe muttered quietly, shuddering as she said their last name. “It was a man, woman and their two biological sons and two other foster girls, Mindy and Sophia. He would touch us girls and make us touch him. One night, things escalated, and he started raping us. It hurt so much… and I tried so hard to protect the other girls from him. I would never…”

“Hey,” Kate hushed, “I know you wouldn’t. Only a moron would think otherwise. I’m glad you made it out of there okay.”

Chloe debated telling her that she didn’t really make it out okay but changed her mind at the last minute. Kate rested her hand on her shoulder, before telling her she was going to go grab their art stuff, so she wouldn’t have to hear the conversation if the adults were still having it. Kate made her way into the living room, pausing to grab their sketchbooks and pencils and walked back towards the stairs. She froze as she heard the conversation.

“and the Clothes that she showed up with were absolutely inappropriate,” Karen complained while Kate tried to remember the clothing they had sorted through. She didn’t remember any of it being bad, except for maybe a little ratty, but they were way more appropriate than some of the things people wore to school… and that was HARDLY Chloe’s fault. “It’s no wonder he touched her, if she was wandering around in… whore apparel, showing off her shoulders and thighs.”

_Oh, hell no!_ Kare thought, as she marched into the kitchen, slamming the door into the counter as she threw it open all the way. She stopped in front of the two women and glared into their faces. _How dare she say such awful things about Chloe?_

“Katherine Beverly Marsh,” Karen rapped out sternly, “you _do not_ ever-“

“Shut your mouth,” Kate snapped out over her, causing her great aunt to gasp and bring a hand up to her chest, while a shocked look appeared upon her mother’s face. “How dare you say such horrible things her?”

“Young lady,” Gertrude cut in, “we don’t speak to our elders like that. You apologize this instant.”

“No,” Kate growled, sending the woman a sharp glare, causing her to gasp again. The girl turned back to look at her mother. “Who are you to judge her? She is a child! Besides, there is no outfit that gives anyone permission to abuse someone else.”

“You were eavesdropping,” Karen stated in horror, “You have no right to listen in on adult conversations.”

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged,” Kate ground out. “For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

“Don’t you quote the bible at your mother,” Gertrude snapped at her, “She knows more of it than you do, and you’re too young to understand it properly.”

“Was I talking to you, Gertrude,” Kate sneered at her, spitting her name out in disgust.

“Kate,” Karen shrieked, sounding scandalized. “You know better than to speak to adults that way. I’m so sorry for her behavior, Gertie. I don’t know what has gotten into her.”

“God, you’re both such hypocrites,” Kate declared. “You spit out hatred all the time, always belittling someone as a sinner. Love the sinner hate the sin!”

“You dare speak the lords name in vain,” Gertrude screamed, before her hand flashed out, catching the slight girl on the mouth. A voice rang out across the kitchen, as the slap reverberated around the room.

“Aunt Gertrude,” Gabriel yelled, as he walked in the back door of the house, stomping snow off of his boots. “Did you just smack my child?”

“She spoke the lords name in vain and came in here being very disrespectful to your wife and I,” Gertrude deflected, causing Karen to nod in agreement.

“No matter what she has done,” the man stated coldly, “It is not your place to discipline her. That is a shared responsibility between Karen and Myself and neither of us would choose to physically discipline our children.”

“Well, I thi-“

“I don’t care what you think, Auntie,” He bellowed, shaking his head as if to dislodge the thought. “I think it’s time you leave. I’ve just finished clearing out the sidewalks, so you should have no problem getting to the car.”

Kate turned and stormed from the kitchen, bumping into Camille on the stairs as she turned towards them. The girl gave her a confounded look, which Kate waved away before continuing to her room. She threw open the door and slammed it behind her, causing Chloe to Jump in surprise. Kate clenched her eyes shut and took a few deep breaths, releasing them slowly to try and calm her anger. Chloe raised a questioning eyebrow at her, but Kate just shook her head, still to angry to speak. The girl took one more deep breath and released it before heading back over towards the seats. The two of them sat in the chairs, leaning back against each other while drawing in companiable silence. They could hear raised voices coming from beneath them for another 15 minutes before they heard the front door slam loudly, followed by screeching tires a minute later. Another half an hour, there was a soft knock at the door before it opened to reveal Gabriel.

“Katie,” He questioned softly, “Mom and I need to have a discussion with you downstairs.” 

Kate sighed before following after her dad, leaving Chloe sitting alone in their room. Chloe sighed sadly as she continued drawing, feeling sorry for the other girl. _If it wasn’t for me, she wouldn’t be in trouble right now._ Chloe was just reaching for her colored pencils when Kate came back into the room with puffy red eyes and redness around the nose. Chloe turned to look at the girl as she sat next to her and rested her palm against the girl’s shoulder.

“You okay,” Chloe asked her softly.

“Yeah,” the girl sniffled, “I’m grounded for a week, though. _Karen_ talked to him before me and made him believe I simply eavesdropped and misunderstood what they were saying. Then told him that I was horribly disrespectful and that she had never seen ‘such abhorrent’ behavior from one of her angels.”

“I’m sorry,” Chloe commiserated, “if it wasn’t for me, you never would have gotten in trouble.”

“Chloe,” Kate stated firmly, “It was not your fault. It was them. They were judgy little … bitches long before you came along. I won’t let them say such horrible things about you.”

The two of them made comfortable conversation after that, each of them continuing on with their drawings. Chloe was just picking up a pencil that she thought would be a great color for freckles when Kate looked over at her sketchpad. She saw a girl drawn there, looking about the same age as them. She had her hair pulled up into a high ponytail, and had fuzzy pink earmuffs covering her ears. She had pale skin, and pretty blue eyes. Kate watched as Chloe started adding freckles to the young girl’s face. She always found it so relaxing to watch the other girl draw. She couldn’t believe how good she was, especially for a 12-year-old.

“Who is she,” Kate finally asked, as Chloe started doing the finishing touches. “I think I’ve seen you draw her once or twice before, but I never really asked.”

“I’m…” Chloe paused a moment before continuing, “not really sure. I think she may just be a figment of my imagination. I keep having dreams of her. Last night I had a dream about her. She was at a park with her parents and was watching other children play together. I got the feeling that she was too shy to join them. Her dad was trying to talk her into asking to join the other kids, but she wouldn’t do it. Eventually, he decided to sled with her. She seemed really sweet.”

“That is weird,” Kate said thoughtfully. “I wish I remembered my dreams better. I wonder if I dream of fake people, too. Can you show me some of your other drawings?”

Chloe nodded, and the two of them started flipping through her book. She showed her drawings she had done of Mindy and Sophia, as well as several of the nurses at the hospital. There were many drawings of Sheri in the book. Chloe had explained to her how the kind woman had bought her the sketching supplies when she saw her doodling in the hospital. Chloe showed her drawings she had done of the Marsh Family as well, which Kate said looked spot on like them. The two of them continued looking at each other’s art up until bedtime. As they laid there waiting for sleep to take them, Chloe could hear the wind howling outside. There was a large winter storm advisory for the area until sometime the next day. They were expecting a lot of snow. Chloe’s last thought before she fell asleep was _I hope we get a snow day tomorrow._

Chloe’s eyes snapped open a few hours later, unsure what had woken her up. She stared ahead at the wall as she started listening to the noises around her. She could hear Kate’s gentle breathing coming from the other side of the room and could still hear the roaring wind out of their windows. She noted that the room seemed to feel a lot cooler than it had a few hours previously. Just as she was wondering if something was wrong with the heater, she felt the hairs on the back of her neck start to stand on end. _Someone is watching me._ _Maybe its Kate?_ Chloe took a breath and let it out slowly, bracing herself as she turned in the bed. She pinned her eyes shut before she was fully turned around before slowly letting them open.

She nearly screamed as her eyes landed on a teenage boy standing… floating by her bed. Her eyes widened as she stared at his visage. He looked to be pretty young, still, maybe around 15 or 16. His long hair was pulled back in a tail at the base of his scull and his copper skin and lips had a strange blue hue to it, almost as if he was freezing. His head had a large gash, showing his bone under his scalp, and one of his arms appeared to be bent at a strange angle. His eyes were a deep brown, and appeared to be filled with sorrow.

”Help me,” he groaned out. It sounded as if it was echoing all around the room before stopping. Chloe stared at him with wide eyes, feeling paralyzed as his good hand lifted towards hers. Chloe felt as if she her hand was dipped in a bowl of ice water, as the boy’s hand came to a stop upon hers. She shivered and closed her eyes against the cold and when she opened them, she was no longer in her bed. She was sitting next to the boy in his car. She tried speaking to him to ask him what was going on, but he appeared unable to hear her. She watched as he continued driving and the storm around him picked up, causing his visibility to completely disappear. They appeared to be traversing a winding road that looked out over the ocean. She had seen them pass by the Arcadia Bay look out spot maybe around 5 minutes earlier, when a large gust of wind spent the car spinning out of control. The car continued moving as it veered off the road, down a steep hill full of trees. Chloe could feel the boy’s terror as the car started flipping over itself, finally coming to a rest at the bottom of the hill and crashing hard into a tree, sending the boy careening headfirst into his steering wheel. Chloe couldn’t bear to look, so turned away and closed her eyes.

“Help me,” he groaned out again, Chloe opened her eyes, and saw she was back in her bed. She looked into the boy’s pleading eyes.

“How am I supposed to help you,” Chloe whispered to him, staring at him with pity.

“My family,” the boy told her, “will have an extremely hard time finding me. By morning, the crash site will be covered in fresh snow.”

“I’m sorry. I just don’t see how I can help you,” Chloe argued, “no one is going to believe a little girl when she tells them that you came to see me. They’ll put me straight in a looney bin.”

“Please,” he begged, “My family deserves to have my body for burial. They deserve to know what happened to me.”

Chloe felt her heart break for the young man. She tried imagining if her parent’s accident hadn’t been found, and how she would have wondered forever what happened to them.

“I’ll try,” Chloe promised him, “but how will I know when it’s time to contact them”

“in the morning, I’ll be reported as missing, my information will be all over the radio, newspapers and tv.”

“What was your name,” Chloe asked him.

“Jimmy Archer,” He told her.

“I’m sorry for your passing, Jimmy.”

“Chloe,” Kate muttered sleepily from the other side of her room, sitting up slightly in bed and rubbing her eyes, as Chloe watched Billy disappear into a brilliant white light, a whispered thank you flowing into her mind. “Who’re you talkin’ to?”

“Uhh,” Chloe said, as she felt her heart race momentarily in her chest. “I doubt if you’d believe me if I told you.”

“I would trust you with my life, Chloe,” The girl promised her. “Go on, you can tell me anything.”

“Well,” Chloe said, before pausing and releasing a sigh. “I didn’t really make it out of the Hampden’s house unscathed. Ruthanne found out that Bill had begun raping us and decided that meant that we were her competition.”

Chloe continued telling the girl the story. Kate crying with her as she recounted finding the girls bodies in their beds, and Ruthanne stabbing her in the stomach, as well as her escape to the neighbors’ house. She told the girl about watching herself in the hospital, until she went up to be with her parents for a while. She mentioned the figure that had approached her, and how she had never felt so much love in her life, and how beautiful everything there had seemed. When she told her about waking up to find that she could see dead people, she expected for Kate to start laughing at her. Instead, the girl climbed from her bed to come lay next to her. Kate believed her and she didn’t seem to think she was insane. As the two continued to lay there, Chloe filled her in on the spirit Jimmy and what had happened when he had touched her.

“That poor boy,” Kate said, as she hid a yawn behind her hand. “I’m glad you chose to help him. That way his family will be able to eventually find closure.”

The next day, the two of them made their way down to breakfast. Gabriel had the radio tuned into a Christian station as he hummed along while scrambling eggs. Kate and Chloe had each grabbed a glass of water and started heading for the table when the song ended and a voice came over the speaker.

“Jimmy Archer, 17, has gone missing sometime in the middle of the night. His parents report that he had been working a late shift at McDonald’s and never made it home. He is of Native American descent, and had long black hair. He was last seen driving a light blue 2004 Buick Park Avenue. “

Kate and Chloe looked at each other in surprise as the story ended. They heard Gabriel sigh sadly, and mutter something about not knowing what he would do if any of them were missing. Chloe saw that Karen had left her phone on the kitchen table and snuck off into the bathroom with it. She called in to the police station and left an anonymous tip about him being about a five-minute drive further than then Arcadia Bay lookout point. She let them know he had veered off the road, and down an embankment, and crashed into a tree. The officer on the other end of the phone started asking her who she was, and how she came by this information. She told him that she wanted to remain anonymous and hung up the call, quickly making her way back to the kitchen and sliding the phone to the center of the table.

Chloe was glad when she heard a report later that week that the car had been found, and that the driver had been deceased. _Rest in peace, Jimmy._ She thought, as she and Kate shared a look over their homework. Chloe had been on pins and needles all week as she had waited to hear anything. She was glad not to have any more visitors come into her room. Even though they had been kind spirits, she didn’t like waking up and finding herself face to face with a dead person.

One morning a month later, Gabriel had decided to drop the kids off at school and a babysitter, as Karen had told them when she woke up that she wasn’t feeling well. As they turned out from the babysitter’s house and onto a side street, Chloe got a strange feeling in her stomach. The feeling continued to grow as they made their way down the street. Before anyone knew anything, a toddler ran out from behind a parked van. Gabriel slammed on the brakes, but it was too late. The car slid into the girl with a sickening crunch. Chloe felt as if she was going to be sick and closed her eyes. As she opened them again, they were a little bit furth back on the street getting a bit closer to the van, and the bad feeling was back.

“Stop! Watch out for the little girl,” Chloe shouted, causing Gabriel to slam on his breaks and skid for a moment, the hood of his car even with that of the van. He watched with wide eyes as a little girl in overall’s ran out from behind the van, while her mom ran behind her trying to grab her. Gabriel’s hands were tight upon the steering wheel, as he took gasping breaths. They watched as the mom grabbed her daughter around the waist and pulled her to her chest, holding her tightly. After he was calm, Gabriel had rolled down his window to check on the woman. After getting the all clear that she was okay and when he felt okay, they continued heading to the other two schools. Kate and Chloe slowly made their way in to the junior high.

“How did you know about the little girl,” Kate asked her quietly. “Did you dream about her last night, or something?”

“No,” Chloe answered, softly shaking her head. “I think I had a… vision of it or something. In the vision I saw the little girl run out in front of us, but we couldn’t stop in time. When I next opened my eyes, we were further back on the road, and I had time to warn him.”

“Wow,” Kate whispered in awe. “Thank god you were with us, otherwise it could have been awful.”

Chloe nodded, and the two went on with their day. That afternoon when they got home from school, Chloe was struck by the most random of thoughts. _She cheated on him._ Chloe shook her head, trying to clear the thought away and confused what she was even thinking of. _Who cheated on who?_ She and Kate headed up to their room to work on their homework and turned on some music while they worked. As they continued working a new song started playing on the radio. Chloe looked up and stared ahead for a moment before blinking her eyes. When she opened them, she was sitting next to Kate, huddled together under an open window. She could feel the heat beaming down on them and turned her eyes to look around. She noted that it looked to be summertime, as she saw a little girl next door playing in a sprinkler. She focused again on her surroundings as she realized there was yelling coming from the open kitchen window above them.

“How could you, Karen,” Gabriel questioned, with great sadness in his voice. “and with Pastor Skip?”

“I’m so sorry, baby,” Karen whined. “things have just changed since _that girl_ came to live with us. Pastor Skip was helping me keep an eye on her, and one day when he came to give me an update, we wound up kissing and one thing led to another.”

“So, Kate didn’t misunderstand your conversation with Gertrude in February,” Gabriel shouted at her, “You’ve been lying to me for months. Did our vows mean nothing to you?”

“Of course, they did,” Karen yelled back at him, “but you can’t blame me for this. If we hadn’t done what you wanted and gotten a foster child, then none of this would have ever happened, and you know as much as I do that that girl is evil. Any visions she has comes straight from the devil..”

“This is not her fault,” Gabriel growled, and slammed his hands on the table with so much force, something fell off and shattered. “She is a kind girl, and I believe her abilities come from God… I think I want a divorce.”

“You can’t divorce me,” Karen cried out, “good Christian’s don’t divorce. It’s wrong to divorce.”

“Unless you’re divorcing for adultery,” Gabriel responded sadly. “When I walked in and saw you in bed with Pastor Skip, I immediately felt differently about you. I don’t think I can forget it. I would never trust you again.”

Outside, Chloe closed her eyes, feeling such sadness for her foster father. The next time she opened them, she was sitting back at her desk, looking down at her homework in front of her. _What in the hell was that?_ Chloe shook her head, trying to remove the memory, but it just seemed to keep sliding back in. It was all she could really think about as she worked on her homework. It took her much longer to finish her homework that day.

That evening as the girls readied for bed, Kate finally asked her what was wrong. Chloe debated not saying anything, but she felt that she owed it to her friend to always be honest. When she told her about her vision that afternoon, Kate had gasped in horror. The two of them stayed up talking about it for another hour, and what it would mean for the family. Kate was telling her that if her parents really did divorce, she was going to beg to live with her dad. She knew she would at the least have to have visitation with her mom, but she knew she would prefer living with him. The two of them eventually fell asleep, each wondering what the hell was going to happen the next couple of months.


	4. Chapter 4

The Foster

Miss Magillicuddy

AN: This chapter contains child abuse, molestation, mention of rape – not to any of the main girls

At the end of March, the Marsh family was in full Easter mode. Karen had run into Kate and Chloe’s room at 5:00 am and woke them up by flashing the lights and telling them to get up and get ready. Kate and Chloe sat up slowly in bed, rubbing at their eye and giving each other confused looks. The two of them headed for the two different showers to get ready for the day. Chloe turned the water on cold to try and shock herself into waking up. _Why the hell did she wake us up when it’s still dark out? Ugggggghhhh._ Chloe was still grumbling tiredly when she made it back to her bedroom. She was stopped by Karen as she stepped out of the bathroom, letting her know that she had set out her Easter outfit. _I can dress my damn self. I’m 13 years old, sheesh._ Chloe just nodded, rolling her eyes as she turned and walked away.

The annoyance turned to horror as she walked into the room and saw what her Easter outfit was. It was a pastel blue dress, covered in gaudy hot pink and vibrant purple flowers. Around the waist was a giant hot pink bow and a large bundle of hot pink tulle under the skirt, causing it to flair out like a ball gown. She eyed the white tights with a frown and glared at a shiny white pair of shoes. To finish the ensemble was a white knit cardigan. The whole outfit looked like it belonged on a two-year-old. Chloe was still glaring at the garish outfit when Kate walked back in. The girl looked at her, then at the same dress hanging from her bed and released an irritated growl along with a muttered, “great.” The two girls shared a horrified look before sighing and stepping into the dresses.

As they finished getting ready Karen popped her head in the room and told them that they were going to need to have a single French braid in their hair and that they would need to help the younger girls with theirs when they were done. The blonds grumbled in irritation, as they took turns doing each other’s hair. The two of them then played rock, paper, scissors to see who would have to do Lynn’s hair. She was a sweet child normally but became a terror when it came time to doing her hair. Chloe cheered inside as she won, sharing a smirk and wink with Kate as she made her way into Camille’s room to do her hair. Chloe started cracking up when she walked in and saw that the girl had somehow become entangled in her dress. The girl in question turned to look at her with a glare before her look softened into a pleading look. Chloe noted that the girl had the same exact dress as she and Kate an inwardly rolled her eyes.

Ten minutes later, Chloe was making her way out of Camille’s room and stopped to see Kate still struggling with Lynn. She was trying to force the _same dress_ they had over the smaller girl’s head. The girl in question was screaming about the dress being itchy and throwing an absolute hissy fit. Chloe hovered for a moment before heading in to help her best friend and sister. The two of them working together had the toddler ready in no time at all. The four girls in the matching dresses slowly made their way down to the living room to wait for their parents to come down. Gabriel made it down first, wearing a black suit with a pastel blue button-down shirt. He mentioned that the reason they were up so early was because they were going to be helping to serve the church’s Easter Breakfast, and proceeded to ask them for help loading up the car. By the time Karen made it downstairs, the car was all packed up and they were starting to get bored waiting. Chloe realized that the woman had somehow even found a dress her size that matched the kids, though her’s was skintight and low cut. Chloe thought the woman might be trying to look ‘sexy’ for her new lover, the pastor. She and Kate shared a look and made gagging faces at each other before giggling silently together.

An hour later the family had finally made it into the church. Lynn was playing with a couple of the other little kids, while her mom flirted… _talked_ with Pastor Skip, throwing out simpering giggles and touching at his arm. Chloe and Kate were standing next to each other, Chloe scooping out portions of hash browns and Kate using tongs to add slices of bacon onto people’s plates. Gabriel stood behind the two girls, making pancakes on the griddle while Camille was standing next to the drink table passing out glasses of juice, milk, or coffee. It was as Chloe was reaching out to place a scoop of potatoes on the plate in front of her, that it happened. One moment, she was looking at a rather plump man, who appeared to be in his mid-40’s and was accompanied by a small teenager that had been looking at the ground the whole time she had been in line. The next moment, the spoon of potatoes she was holding crashed to the floor, as her mind was flooded with images.

**Visions may be disturbing, skip if you want to the next bolded line!**

The girl is standing in the corner of the kitchen, crying as she nurses a bruised arm. The man is sitting at the kitchen table, playing poker with a bunch of skeevy looking guys. They are all drinking and laughing, and someone has laid out a line of cocaine. The man swallows his beer in 3 gulps, releasing a loud belch and yelling out for Jasmine to grab him another beer. As the smaller girl brings over a beer she had opened for him, the man snorting the coke jumps up and bumps her arm. The beer spills all over the man, who is on his feet instantly. He grabs the girl by the arm and turns her as he rips off his belt, lifts her shirt and begins whipping her back. Jasmine pleads for Uncle Leroy to stop. After his arm gets tired, Leroy shoves the small teenager towards one of his friends and tells him she’s his for the night for punishment. As that vision fades to another one, Chloe sees the man dragging the girl off as she screams for him to stop.

The next vision Chloe finds herself in is taking place in a dumpy living room. She wants to vomit as she sees Leroy sitting naked on the couch as his hand goes up and down his shaft and averts her gaze away from him to the TV. She hurries to look away from there as well, as she realizes that she is looking at what appears to be a very old man hurting a young girl. Her mind flashes back for a moment to Billy doing the same thing to her, Mindy and Sophia. As her gaze traverses the room, it lands on Jasmine once again huddling in the corner. She feels her horror rise when Leroy grunts for her to come over to him. He tells her to undress, and watches with a strange look on his face that Chloe recognizes but doesn’t quite understand the meaning of. As the girls nightgown comes up over her head, Chloe feels her heart break. She is covered in bruises, cigarette burns, and lashes from his belt and the word bitch is branded into her back. After telling her he wants a blowjob and getting a negative headshake the man picks up his cigarette resting in the ashtray next to him. He takes a long draw off it, blowing the smoke into her face on exhale and laughing. The girl coughs and tries to wave the smoke away before Leroy grab’s her wrist and tugs her towards him. He grins in satisfaction as he presses the lit cigarette onto her small chest until the pit is done smoking. The girl is on her knees in pain, even as the man lights up a new cigarette and reaches around the back of her head, fisting her hair and forcing her head down on him. Right before he climaxes, he pulls her head away and starts pumping himself again. He presses the lit cigarette down on her nipple before he spurts all over her face, white streaks mixing with her clear tears.

**End of visions**

Gabriel heard the crash from the spoon come from behind him and turned quickly. He turned and saw that Chloe was standing, as if frozen in spot. The spoon she was holding lay on the floor, chunks of hash browns scattered around the floor. He hurries towards her, turning her towards him to check on her. He waves his fingers in front of her face and notices that she has no reaction. Leroy is growling as he wipes small bits of potato from his pants and kicks it from his loafers. Gabriel turns to look at the man, briefly apologizing before he turns back to Chloe. It seems almost as if she is starting to come back to herself, her eyes are looking less and less spaced out.

“He hurts her,” Chloe states in a flat voice, completely unaware that she is even speaking. “and he likes it.”

“What,” Kate questions, looking at Chloe in horror even as Leroy turns pale across from her. Not that anyone other than Jasmine would have noticed that. She was staring from Chloe to her Uncle in wonder. Every other person in the room was staring directly at Chloe. They all watched as Chloe’s eyes suddenly turned intense and turned to glare directly into the man’s soul.

“Someone bumped her,” Chloe said while staring menacingly at the fat, balding man “and she accidentally spilled his beer. He whipped her so bad that her back is permanently scarred. Then he told his friend that he could have her for the night as retribution… for a spilled BEER. You like to burn people, don’t you, _Uncle Leroy?_ He hurts her like Billy hurt me.”

“Chloe,” Karen yelled, as she hurried her way towards her and latched onto her shoulders. “You shouldn’t make up such stories about people! You apologize for this right now.”

“Yeah,” Leroy said snidely. “She is my niece and I love her. I wouldn’t burn her with cigarettes.”

“You did hurt her,” Chloe shouted at him. “You were naked on the couch watching an old man hurt a little girl on your tv. You made her come over to her and said you wanted a blow job and burnt her with a cigarette until she fell! You forced her on you!”

“Shut up, you little bitch,” Leroy growled as he raised a hand to hit her. He didn’t get very far as Gabriel grabbed his wrist.

“If you touch _any_ of my children, I will ruin you,” The normally soft-spoken man promised.

“Am I bitch,” Chloe asked angrily, “Are you gonna brand that on my back, too?”

“Wh- I never,” the man stuttered. Karen had started to yell at Chloe again, telling her that she was embarrassing the family and needed to stop making up stories. The girl in question began arguing back, assuring the woman that she wasn’t making it up. Everyone watched the foster mom and daughter argue. Everyone except Kate, who was staring gently at Jasmine. The petite girl had made her way around the table and placed a hand over the other girls. The young teenager looked up at her uncertainly, a slight hope burning in her eyes.

“It’s true,” Kate said, loud enough to interrupt the pair arguing next to her, “isn’t it, Jasmine? Did he hurt you?”

Jasmine looked at her for a moment as tears started brimming in her eyes. She nodded her head as she averted her gaze from Kate and looked at the ground. All noise around them had stopped, except for Leroy’s sputtering. Jasmine slowly removed her jacket with her eyes still firmly on the ground. She pulled blouse over her head as well, leaving her in her camisole. There were loud gasps as the lash marks, branded ‘bitch’ across her back, and several cigarette burns became plain for everyone to see. There were horrified gasps as the congregation viewed the damage done on the child. Leroy had turned white as a sheet and turned to run. Unfortunately for him, Gabriel had played football when he was a kid. The man was over the table and tackling the man to the ground before the man had made it even halfway across the room. A couple of other church members went up and took over for him while someone else ran off to call the police. Gabriel had made his way back towards the his family.

“Wh- bu- how,” Karen asked, confusion lacing her voice.

“I just saw it… in my head,” Chloe stated softly, prying the woman’s clenched hands from her shoulders and rubbing out the soreness.

“Just like she did when Dad was about to run over a toddler that was going to run into the road,” Kate commented from beside Chloe, placing her hand on her shoulder to show her support.

“Wait, you’re saying you had a vision of that before it happened,” Gabriel asked and looked at her with wonder.

“Yeah, it’s how I know the little girl was going to pop out from behind the van,” Chloe told him, “She wasn’t visible from the road.”

Before anyone else could say anything, rapid footfalls came down the stairs, revealing a pair of police officers and a paramedic. The officers took over restraining Leroy, while the paramedic made her way to Jasmine. She put her arm around the small teen and led her out of the church so they could evaluate her medical needs. The parishioners all watched in astonishment as Leroy was dragged out of the church kicking and screaming his innocence. Five minutes later, another police officer came down and started questioning everyone. Chloe watched all of this in interest, and noticed a little old lady walking up to her.

“You have a gift,” The woman says softly, before pulling her into a tight, yet awkward for Chloe, hug. “God chose you to give this gift. I hope you use it well.”

“I, uh, will,” Chloe muttered awkwardly, gently pulling herself from the woman’s grasp.

“More like straight from the devil, himself,” came a firm voice from over the old woman’s shoulder. Chloe looked up and saw Pastor Skip standing behind the woman with his arms crossed over his chest and a dark glare upon his face. “The only way you could have visions is if you sold your soul to the devil. I’m going to have to ask you to leave. Devil worshippers aren’t welcome here.”

“What,” Gabriel queried, annoyance in his voice, “You’re a pastor… haven’t you heard the verse… And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. This passage clearly mentions Chloe’s gift.”

“If you believe that, your family can go with her,” Skip told them, glaring at the man.

“Are you joking,” Gabriel asked incredulously, “This has been our church for 15 years! My kids grew up in this church, and you’re going to kick us out?”

“If you’re going to side with evil, I have no other choice,” the pastor said with faked sadness.

Gabriel glared at the man darkly and without a word started gathering up his children. He picked up Lynn and waved a hand for everyone else to follow him. He was glowering in fury as he made his way towards the stairs. Chloe, Kate and Camille follow quickly behind them, each of the girls leveling a glare at the leader of the church as they pass him by.

“Gabriel,” Karen shouted out appalled, “You’re not seriously thinking of leaving our church on Easter!”

“Well, we’re apparently not welcome here anymore, Karen,” Gabriel said without looking back and started climbing up the stairs. The rest of the family followed dutifully behind him, except for Karen. She was still standing next to Pastor Skip sputtering as the rest of her family walked out.

“I AM NOT LEAVING,” the irritated woman yelled out, “Send the girl home, the rest of us are staying.”

“We’re leaving,” He growled, “If you’re staying, you can find a ride home. I’m not staying where I’m not wanted.”

Gabriel didn’t wait for another word from his wife and stormed up the stairs and out of his former church. He was practically stomping as he made his way to the van and buckled Lynn into her car seat. The rest of the girls silently got in their seats and buckled themselves in. Chloe and Kate were giving each other nervous looks as Gabriel climbed behind the wheel of the car. He sat there for a moment taking a few deep breaths, gripping his steering wheel with white knuckles. He finally released a deep sigh and turned on the car. As soon as it turned on, it started blaring a song about God’s Love. The man huffed and turned it off in annoyance before he quickly left the parking lot.

When they got home, Chloe and Kate ran up to their room and changed back into pajamas. They had decided on the ride home that they were going to take a nap, since they had been so rudely awoken that morning. The two of them cracked their door open, hoping they would smell lunch when it started cooking, since they hadn’t gotten the chance themselves to enjoy any of the food at the church. The two of them where muttering back and forth about the insanity of the morning for about half an hour before they quieted down and tried to go to sleep. Chloe woke up later hearing muffled yells coming from below her. She could tell that it was Gabriel and Karen shouting at each other. She could hear Karen yelling about him siding with the devil child over their church. She heard the man scream back about always siding with his family, especially against a pastor who apparently doesn’t know the bible as well as he should. Chloe’s eyes widened as she heard the distinctive sound of a loud slap landing on someone’s face.

“She is NOT my family,” Karen’s screeching voice echoed through the house.

“What the hell has gotten into you,” Gabriel screamed, “Why would you hit me?”

“You deserved it!”

Chloe can hear the woman’s heels click clacking up the stairs while she mutters under her breath. Chloe closed her eyes, pretending to still be asleep, as she didn’t want the woman to see that she had heard the conversation. She hears the woman’s stomping feet stop outside of their door, followed by a huff. She hears the door slam the rest of the way open. Kate and Chloe shoot up in their beds as the door ricochets of the wall.

“What do you two think you’re doing asleep,’ The woman hissed angrily. “You need to get downstairs and do your chores.”

“We were tired,” Kate stated sarcastically. “You did wake us up at 5. Some of us were tired from that.”

“Watch your attitude, Katherine Marsh,” Karen snapped at her, then turned her glare to Chloe, “I wonder where you’re learning that behavior.”

The woman huffed and stormed from the bedroom, slamming the door to her own bedroom behind her. Kate was grumbling about not being able to stand much more of her shit as she climbed from her bed. The two girls made their way into the kitchen and saw Gabriel sitting at the kitchen table, a red handprint vivid on his face. He looked to be lost in thought as the girls walked up to him.

“I’m sorry she hit you,” Chloe told him sadly, causing the man to startle out of his stupor. The man averted his eyes.

“It’s not your fault,” Gabriel told her lightly, “Did you have a vision of it, or did you hear us?”

“I could hear her screaming at you,” Chloe responded, “… I heard the slap, too. She must have hit hard.”

“That she did. What are you girls doing down here? I figured you’d sleep for longer.”

“ _Mom_ stormed in our room and told us we should be doing chores,” Kate informed him with an eyeroll.

“There’s no need for that today,” the man responded, “It’s been a pretty crappy morning. I think we could all use a day off.”

The next few months in the Marsh household were pretty uncomfortable. The couple was constantly bickering, Karen having hauled off and smacked her husband several times. By the time July was ending, the couple had a very strained relationship. She was mad that he was still choosing to stick up for Chloe instead of coming back to their family church. He thought it was ridiculous that she was still going there, when the rest of them had moved on to a new church with a much more relaxed congregation. They were much less judgmental than the old church had been, and the youth group had a lot of fun activities for the kids to do. Chloe and Kate thought that the people from this church seemed much less snobby than the old one.

Toward the end of July, Gabriel had decided to take the kids to play at the beach. They had been there for less than an hour before Kate felt her stomach start to cramp. She headed quickly to the bathroom and was horrified when she pulled down her swimsuit bottoms and saw that there was blood. She folded up a bunch of toilet paper and stuffed it down there, and awkwardly made her way out to her dad.

“Dad,” Kate whispered. “I think I started my first period. Can we please leave?”

Gabriel’s eyes widened before he nodded and started calling for Chloe and Camille to come back to him. He plucked Lynn from the ground where she was attempting to make a sandcastle. He quickly explained to them that they needed to get home because Kate wasn’t feeling well, and that he would bring them back when she was feeling better. Kate wrapped her towel tight around her as she got in the van. Worried about staining her seat. As they pulled up to the Marsh house 15 minutes later, it was to an interesting find.

“Why is Pastor Skip’s car parked in the driveway,” Gabriel wondered aloud, deciding to park in the road so as not to block the man in. “Maybe he came to apologize for his judgments.”

Kate and Chloe shared a glance as the climbed from the car, slowly making their way to the front door behind Gabriel. Chloe could feel a pit growing in her stomach as the man slid his key into the lock, and slowly turned the knob. Loud moaning could be heard as soon as the door opened. Gabriel froze in horror, as what was happening registered in his mind. There was a loud slamming as the headboard upstairs banged repeatedly against the wall.

“Oh god,” Karen wailed loudly. “Harder, Skip! Make me cum like Gabriel never has!”

“Mmm, yeah,” they heard Skip say, as the pounding sounds continued, “You feel so good wrapped around my prick. Ungh, I’m cumming”

Gabriel suddenly snapped and stormed up the stairs, throwing open his bedroom door and seeing his wife in bed with the former Pastor. The two lovers shrieked and grabbed at the blankets, trying to cover themselves up. Staring in horror at the angry man framed in the doorway.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing,” He yelled out at them.

“Gabriel,” Karen said in shock. “You’re supposed to be at the beach with the girls!”

“We came home early,” The man said with a sneer on his face. He turned to look at the pastor. “Get the fuck out of my house. I need to talk to my wife, and you should probably talk to yours before I do.”

Gabriel flinched as he saw the man climb off of his wife, semen pooling onto the mattress from her vagina. He felt absolute disgust and loathing for the woman he had sworn to have and to hold as long as they would both live. He turned to watch the man hurry from his house, watching as the man bumped into Kate as she came from the bathroom in a new outfit. He turned to glare back at his wife.

“You should probably shower before you come talk to me,” Gabriel snapped at her. “You smell like a brothel.”

The man turned on heel, and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him. Gabriel stomped down the stairs and walked into the kitchen. He saw his girls sitting at the table and gave them a forced smile and nod when Chloe asked if he was okay. He asked for them to go outside to play while he talked to his wife, and smiled gratefully as the two older girls herded the other two out of the door with the picnic basket that had been packed for the beach. He didn’t realize that the window had been opened before the headed out, nor did he see the two blond heads duck down to listen by the window. The conversation went much as Chloe remembered it. She realized she was getting towards the end of the parts of the conversation she remembered.

“You can’t divorce me,” Karen cried out, “good Christian’s don’t divorce. It’s wrong to divorce.”

“Unless you’re divorcing for adultery,” Gabriel responded sadly. “When I walked in and saw you in bed with Pastor Skip, I immediately felt differently about you. I don’t think I can forget it. I would never trust you again.”

“But baby,” Karen said in an insincere voice, “we’ve been together for years. You can’t leave me. I haven’t ever worked. How will I care for myself?”

“Maybe you should ask Skip,” He said snidely, “That’s not my problem anymore. I guess you should have thought of that before you ruined our marriage.”

“How could you say that to me,” Karen asked, as crocodile tears started streaking down her cheeks. “You’re the one who ruined us. If you hadn’t suggested doing foster care, I wouldn’t have become so close to Skip… no, if it weren’t for Chloe, you and I would still be happy.”

“Don’t you dare blame this on a 13-year-old girl, Karen,” Gabriel said venomously

“Fine, if you want to divorce me, you’ll have to kiss your real kids goodbye,” Karen threatened. “You’ll never see them again, and you’ll have to pay me child support.”

“Over my dead body,” Kate yelled, as she popped up from outside. “I’m telling the judge I want dad to have full custody of me.”

“Katherine Beverly Marsh,” Karen snarled, storming for the back door and meeting her outside. “You are in so much trouble! What have I said about eavesdropping, young lady?”

The angry woman raises her hand and smacks the girl across the face two times before Gabriel catches up with her and grabs her wrist. Chloe hurries past the three of them and makes her way back into the kitchen, grabbing her foster father’s phone from the kitchen table. She hurries outside and takes pictures of the situation, Gabriel restraining Karen, while Kate holds a hand up to her cheek. She turns the girl’s face towards her and snaps a few pictures of the marks on her face. Finally, Chloe turns to glower at the woman, growling at her to never touch her sister, before calling for the police. Karen went to jail that night, being charged with aggravated battery. Apparently hitting a child in the face is automatically aggravated battery. Chloe hoped that would help Gabriel get full custody of all of his children.

The man in question had immediately gotten into contact with a lawyer, and spent the next few weeks building up the case for both the divorce and the custody of the children. When it had come out that Karen had not only been committing adultery but had also been verbally and physically abusive towards her husband, the lawyer had even thought he could save the man from paying alimony. Karen had been bailed out by her parents and was currently living with them in their basement. The court battle wound up being quicker than they had thought it would. Karen had gotten her rights temporarily revoked and would have to take anger management classes before she could get supervised visits. After that, she would eventually build up the amount of time she had the children, until she had them every other weekend. The judge had agreed that he shouldn’t have to pay her alimony, as the reason for the divorce was due to her adultery and abuse. Karen had wailed loudly when she had heard the news, turning around and grabbing for her mother who was busy glaring at her, now ex, husband. The judge did agree to one of Karen’s caveats. She didn’t want a _bad seed_ like Chloe around her perfect little angels. Her lawyer had been like a dog with a bone, as he fought to get Chloe away from the family. He stated that it would be just too much for the man to take on the responsibility of her all by himself.

When Gabriel had told the kids this information later, they had all broken down into tears. Kate and Chloe were hugging to each other tightly. They were promising each other that they would stay friends no matter what, and that they were sisters by choice, not blood. Gabriel gave her a hug, and a sorrow filled gaze as Sandy came up behind her. Sandy and Gabriel shook hands, and he pulled her off to the side for some sort of secret conversation. Chloe was holding onto Lynn, who was crying hysterically because her Clo-clo was leaving her. After court, they had all headed back to the Marsh home. Chloe headed up to their…Kate’s room. They two of them were sniffling as they packed up Chloe’s belongings. The two of them gave each other a tight hug before Chloe left the house as a member of the household for the last time.

“I’ll call you as soon as I can,” Chloe promised her, “Hopefully whoever I’m going to will let me use the phone.”

“You better, brat,” Kate said tearfully, but with a slight giggle.

“I may not be able to be your foster dad anymore,” Gabriel said, coming up to give her a hug, “but I want you to know, you will always be welcome in this house. Once you get settled in with your new guardians, we’ll have to work out a time for you to come over for a slumber party.”

“That would be nice,” Chloe said, giving him a sad smile, “Thank you for taking such good care of me.”

“Any time, sweetie,” Gabriel told her, “and I hope you know that Karen is very wrong about you. You are not, and never could be, a bad seed.”

They all gave Chloe one last hug, before Sandy led her back out to her car. Gabriel put her things in Sandy’s trunk for her and stood outside with the girls as they all waved teary goodbyes. Chloe and Kate continued making eye contact until Sandy turned the corner, and they no longer could. The foster child could feel her anxiety creeping in. _What if it’s like the first place? I don’t think I could handle being in a home like that again._ Sandy cleared her throat gently, stealing a glance at Chloe before she opened her mouth to speak.

“So, I think you’re really gonna like your new foster parents,” The woman said conversationally. “They’re actually looking to eventually adopt you.”

“Don’t people who adopt foster kids usually pick younger ones,” Chloe asked uncertainly, hardly believing anyone would want to adopt her. _Maybe they thought the file said 3 and not 13._ She saw Sandy give a secretive smirk out of the corner of her eye and turned to look at her fully.

“Mmm, no. They were pretty specific, actually,” She responded with a smile. “You’ll be their only foster child… their first actually. They had tried for years to have children but were never able to. They’re certain you’ll fit right in. They are also both retired, so they’ll have plenty of attention to lavish you with.”

Chloe ‘hmmed’ and continued looking out the window, seeing that they were starting to get into the richer area of Arcadia Bay. That’s not to say that the Marsh’s house was small or derelict. It was quite the opposite, but their house next to these would look like it. Chloe’s eyes widened as they pulled into a cul-de-sac that backed up onto some woods. It was picturesque if Chloe could only use one word. There were only 4 houses and one of them was for sale. The pull into the driveway at the house on the end of the cul-de-sac. It is a large home, with a 3-car garage, large picture windows in the living room, and a long driveway with plants going along the side of it. Chloe eyes the mailbox with the Mickey Mouse design in surprise. She wouldn’t expect that kind of decoration in this type of neighborhood. _Someone likes Disney._ Chloe looks over at Sandy with shock in her eyes.

“Are you sure you’re at the right place,” She asked her in awe.

Sandy didn’t respond, but just laughed and got out of her car. She walked around the back and the two of them grabbed a few of Chloe’s bags. The two of them made their way to the door, Sandy setting down one of the bags so she could easily ring the doorbell. Chloe heard fierce barking start coming from inside the house and took a slight step back from the door. She could hear a male voice telling ‘Wilson’ and “Maverick” to simmer to simmer down, followed by hearty laughter. Chloe heard a… familiar… female voice yelling that they would answer it, and for Dean to keep the dogs back, so she didn’t get nervous. The door flew open, and before Chloe could process much of anything she was pulled into a tight hug.

“Chloe,” The woman shouted in exuberance, “I’m so glad to see you. You look so much healthier than the last time I saw you.”

“Sheri, don’t suffocate the poor girl,” the man said, before the woman pulled back from Chloe and gave her a happy smile. _Sheri? What?_ Chloe stared in surprise at the woman who had been her favorite nurse when she was in the hospital. She looked over her shoulder to see a tall man with graying dark brown, curly hair and dark eyes. He had a relaxed smile, even as he held two large, whining dogs by their collars. They were both whining and trying to come sniff at them. One was a beautiful white and gray husky with chocolate colored eyes and the other was a golden retriever. Chloe’s blue eyes slowly moved back to meet with Sheri’s smiling green ones.

“Sheri? You’re my new foster mother,” Chloe asked, feeling the anxiety she had been having flow out of her as quickly as it had come. Sheri nodded and motioned her to follow her inside. She had them set the bags by the stairs for now, while she lead them into the kitchen so she could offer them drinks. Chloe stopped along the way to greet the dogs, each of which sniffed at her hands before giving soft licks. Even though it was huge, the house felt warm, welcoming, and lived in. It was clean, but it didn’t give off the vibe of being sterile. They sat down at the table and Sheri brought them over glasses of iced tea.

“Are you surprised,” Sandy asked, looking at her with a warm smile.

“Yeah,” Chloe responded, “I didn’t even know you were interested in foster care.”

“Well,” Sheri said lightly, “When we met at the hospital, it wasn’t something we had been actively pursuing. We had talked about it in the past, but it had never seemed like the right time. Then you came along, and I felt such a connection. We decided to get our fostering license, so that if anything ever happened with your last family, we could put in a request to take you.”

“We started doing our classes about a month after you left,” Dean added quietly, joining them after letting the dogs out into the backyard.

“But you hadn’t met me,” Chloe mentioned to him. Dean gave her a soft smile before speaking.

“I could see how much you matter to my wife,” Dean stated, “Anything that makes her that happy has to be amazing. She told me your story, and I was impressed with how much of a fighter you are.”

Chloe felt a heaviness lift from her shoulders and glanced around the kitchen, her eyes catching a flash of blue as she turned her head back toward Sheri. A lone blue butterfly landed on the woman’s hand, causing her to smile and lift it closer to her face. Chloe had a flash of remembrance. She would know she found the one when she saw the blue butterflies. She knew this was a sign from her parents above. She had found her new home.

End of chapter notes – yes, Chloe is in her permanent home, there will be no more other foster families for her. I hope to bring Max in in the next chapter.


	5. Chapter 5

The Foster

Miss Magillicuddy

AN: Sorry this chapter took so long! I wrote part of it but forgot to save and lost what I wrote and had to rewrite a portion. Plus, it’s 40 pages, so it took a while to write already... also, there was a lot of research done for this chapter at certain spots. (looking to see when things came out and look up info on DnD, which i've only played a couple of times)

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Chloe quickly felt at home in the home of the Tilton’s. After Sandy had left, Sheri and Dean had given Chloe the grand tour of her new home. The two dogs followed them all around, nails clicking on the wooden floors. Off of the kitchen were two doorways, one that lead to a three-car garage which had blue Porsche Cayenne, a red Porsche Boxter and a black Jeep Wrangler. _Damnnnnnn._ Chloe eyed the cars and was practically salivating. _Dad would have loved to drive one of these._ The other door led to a laundry room with an expensive looking washer and dryer and shelves that were filled with towels, detergents, fabric softeners and bleach. The bottom floor also contained a family room with a large TV hanging from one of the walls, a formal dining room that Chloe was told was where important meals were held, one and a half bathrooms, and an office lined with bookcases that were stacked full of books that she was told she could borrow anytime she liked. The dining room had a pair of French doors that led out into the backyard.

Chloe investigated the yard in awe. She was standing on a pergola covered patio that had wicker furniture with sky blue cushions. There was a trellis at one side of the patio that had ivy and roses climbing up it. At the bottom of the stairs of the patio was a stone pathway that led to an inground pool, steps leading into the shallow end of the water. There were several lounging chairs surrounding the pool that matched the furniture on the patio. Chloe could see that there was a small fire pit in the back corner of the yard, opposite of a small building full of windows that seemed to contain a hot tub. From the patio she could evergreen trees standing tall behind the white privacy fence surrounding the house. She couldn’t wait to get out there and explore.

Sheri came up next to her and gave her a smile before gently taking her hand and leading her back into the house and up the stairs. At the top of the landing Chloe could see a wide hallway lined with doors. Sheri led her to the first door on the left, showing her another bathroom. The door next to that was one of their guest bedrooms. Across the hall from that room was Sheri and Dean’s room. The woman had showed her that room so she could see where to go if she ever needed them for anything in the middle of the night. Across the hall from the bathroom the door opened to reveal Sheri’s craft room. She had drawers full of paints, colored pencils, markers, charcoals, brushes. There was a large picture window with a painting easel faced so you could paint the outside world. There was a very comfortable looking sofa sitting against the wall by the door, and on the last wall was a shelving unit full that was packed to bursting with yarns, canvases, sketchpads and anything else Chloe could think of. There was a basket of yarn and crocheting needles sitting on the floor by the edge of the couch.

Chloe was led to the final door in the hallway, Sheri gave her an excited smile before she opened it and pulled the girl in gently. Chloe saw that she was led into a large, white room but was surprised to find it empty. Across the room from her was another set of French doors, leading out onto a balcony that overlooked the backyard. She could imagine that she would spend a lot of time out there, sketching the scenic view behind her house. The righthand wall of her bedroom had two doors. The first one she opened led to an empty walk-in closet. The other to a small en suite with her own toilet, sink and bathtub shower combo. She walked back out of the bathroom and gave her new foster parents a shocked look.

“I know it’s a bit plain, right now,” Sheri stated softly, “but we figured we would let you pick out your own paint colors and furniture. We want this to be your own space. You can decorate it however you want. If you want to leave it white, go ahead. If you want to paint it black, blue, purple, green… any color, you can.”

“Wow,” Chloe sputtered, “it’s so beautiful.”

“A beautiful room for a beautiful girl,” Sheri said in a singsong tone.

“Would you like to go pick out your furniture,” Dean questioned softly. “We can go whenever you’re ready.”

“Sure,” Chloe stated as she followed the couple down to the garage, the three of them piling into the Cayenne.

The first place the three of them stopped was at Menards where Chloe picked out a cyan blue paint for her 1 of her walls and a light gray for the other 3. While they were there, she had also been talked into picking out a white and gray, thick, fluffy carpet to go on her hardwood floors. They went furniture shopping after that, where Chloe picked out a white framed, canopied queen-sized bed. She also picked out the matching bedside tables and dressers. She found a white desk in the store as well and a light blue computer chair to go with it. The final thing she picked out in the furniture store was a futon bed. She had been shocked when she took a seat on it and found it to be extremely comfortable. She hadn’t ever sat on a futon so comfortable before.

They continued with their shopping trip by going to Home Goods, where Chloe picked out the softest sheets she had ever felt in her life. She also found a blanket set that matched her paint colors. Sheri had helped Chloe pick out some decorations for her walls, and a very nice set of room darkening curtains. While they stood in line Chloe heard her stomach start growling. Her new foster dad gave her a silly grin before telling her he was hungry enough to eat a horse. They quickly checked out and made their way to a local steakhouse when Dean said he was craving a hunk of meat.

“So, Chloe,” Sheri said conversationally, “I noticed that your… style has changed quite a bit since we last saw one another.”

“oh, uh,” Chloe blushed and looked down at her ankle length skirt and white blouse while the waiter set her side salad in front of her, “Mrs. Marsh was very particular about what was appropriate for me to wear.”

“Hmmm, it doesn’t seem very… you,” the woman told her gently. “What do you want to wear?”

“I miss jeans,” Chloe told the couple in between bites of her salad. “and t-shirts… and sneakers.”

“How about the two of you go shopping after lunch,” Dean asked as he took a large bite of his buttered roll. “I could go home and the two of you could have a girl’s day.”

“That sounds wonderful,” Sheri bounced in her seat, “What do you think, Chloe?”

“It would be nice, but…” Chloe trailed off for a moment.

“But?”

“You’ve both already spent so much money on me,” the young teen, picking at her salad nervously, “I don’t deserve it.”

“Of course, you deserve it,” Dean declared, “We _want_ to take care of you, and we have lots of money to spare.”

“Are you sure it’s not too much,” Chloe questioned the couple, looking between the two of them. “I wouldn’t want to be a burden.”

“You could never be a burden,” Sheri vowed and placed a hand atop hers, “We worked hard so that we could help you if we were ever given the chance. What d’ya say? Should we have a girl’s day?”

“Okay, sure,” Chloe agreed with a nod, “That sounds fun.”

The three of them finished their delicious meals and left the restaurant, the two girls dropping Dean at home before heading off to spend time together. The first stop the two of them made was the mall where Sheri led her from store to store, piling clothes into the girl’s arms and shoving her into dressing rooms to try them on. When the pair of them were getting leaden down with too many bags, they made a trip back to the car to store them before making their way back in to check out the shoe store. Chloe picked out several pairs of shoes at Sheri’s insistence, a few pairs of boots, a light blue pair of chucks, and a couple of pairs of vans. Their next stop was at a nail salon, where they each got a mani-pedi. Chloe chose a purple nail polish for her toes, and blue for her fingers while Sheri went with dark red for her toes and fingers. While they were there, Chloe turned to look at the short, plump woman.

“Do you think I’d be able to get my hair done,” She asked with a nervous look on her face. “You can say no. You’ve already done so much for me today, but Mrs. Marsh wouldn’t let any of us cut our hair.”

“Of course, we can!”

The pair of women made their way through the mall to the Regis Hair salon after paying for their nails. A cheery girl checked her in, leading her back to her chair to ask what she wanted done with her hair. The girl undid Chloe’s long French braid and started running her fingers through her hair. Chloe’s blond waves reached all the way to her lower back when it was out of its braid. Chloe had decided to get it cut to just below her shoulders and decided to get a side bang with a lot of layers and framing around her face. She also requested to get a streak of blue going through her bangs and at the tips of her hair, which had to be signed off on by her new guardian. Chloe had watched Sheri speaking quietly on the phone while the stylist worked on her hair. She saw the girl giving her a suspicious smile and nodding her head while speaking into the phone.

The sun was already long set by the time the pair of them had returned to the house. Dean had come out into the garage to help them take the new clothing up to Chloe’s room, explaining on the way that she could sleep in the guest room until they got her room painted and set up for her. He casually mentioned how much he liked her hair as they made their way up to her room. She saw that at some point while they had been away, Dean had brought up the paint she picked out for her room, as well as paint pans and paint rollers. He had also set out painting clothes so the paint wouldn’t get on the floor the next day when they painted. The family helped her hang her new clothing and set up her shoes in her closet. Chloe raised her eyebrows as she saw a full-length mirror in the corner of her closet that hadn’t been there earlier.

“I had thought of some things you might need while you were out,” Dean told her when he saw her look. “I figured it was something I could take care of without you.”

Chloe nodded her thanks before grabbing a pair of her new pajamas and making her way into the bathroom where her toothbrush had been placed earlier. She could hear the couple whispering together but couldn’t really make out what they were saying. Chloe changed slowly into her pajamas before she brushed her teeth, followed by her hair. She made her way back out of her bathroom and saw Sheri bouncing in place while she held onto Dean’s hand. She grabbed Chloe’s hand with her other and pulled her along to the guest room, turning to look at her before opening the door and tugging her in with her. Chloe looked at the bed and saw that there were two wrapped boxes on top of the blankets.

“What’s this,” Chloe asked, lifting the smaller of the packages.

“We wanted to give you a gift to welcome you to the family,” Dean informed her, shifting awkwardly. “I hope you like them.”

“You didn’t have to get me anything else,” Chloe told the couple, giving them a confused look. “You’ve spent so much on me today.”

“We wanted to spend that on you,” Sheri told her gently, before pulling her into a light hug. “Plus, these are some practical things that you would need anyways.”

Chloe sat gently on the bed and reached a hand towards the first gift. She pulled it toward her and unwrapped the present revealing an I-phone. Chloe looked up at her foster parents in shock.

“You got me an iPhone,” The girl asked incredulously, “This thing just came out over the summer!”

“The employee at the store assured me it’s the best thing on the market,” Dean told her with a grin. “I hope you like it!”

“We wanted you to have a phone for emergencies,” Sheri told the girl and joined her on the bed to throw an arm over her shoulder.

“Thank you so much,” Chloe gushed as she looked at the hottest phone on the market. She was still gaping between the adults as she reached forward and pulled the other box toward her. She was shocked when she pulled off the last of the paper and saw a brand-new Apple Macbook. The girl was staring at the box in shock before she slowly moved her hand to open the box and lifted the lid from the box, seeing the new laptop sitting pristinely in the box. She looked at the couple next to her. “What?”

“We got you that for schoolwork,” Sheri said, squeezing the girl gently before standing up and walking towards her husband to link arms.

“Thank you,” She told them sincerely, blinking tears of gratitude from her eyes. “I can’t believe you got me these.”

“We’re glad you like them,” Dean responded, giving a light smile before leading Sheri towards the door to give the girl some privacy. As they reached the doorway he turned to look back and told her the wi-fi password before the two of them headed off to relax before bed. Maverick had jumped up on the bottom of the guest bed and made himself at home, resting his head on his paws and looking up at her with soulful brown eyes. Chloe plugged in the cord for both her laptop and her phone. She couldn’t wait to call Kate to give her her new phone number, but the first thing she did was turn on her laptop and wait eagerly for it to load up for the first time. She hopped out of the bed and turned the bedroom light off before climbing back into her bed and setting up her account on the computer. Once she had gotten logged in, she quickly entered the Wi-Fi password and loaded up her internet. She thought momentarily before she created an email, then made her way over to myspace and Facebook, creating pages for herself. She also created a username for herself on MSN messenger. She took a few pictures of herself with the webcam on her new computer and used them for her profile pictures.

She slowly started adding classmates to her pages, while idly stroking the Siberian Husky’s fur. She was wishing that Kate would have been allowed to use the internet so she could add her sister to her pages. She wondered if Gabriel would let her now that he had full custody over the girls. She was browsing through the profile of a girl named Dana that she went to school with when a thought suddenly occurred to her. _Rachel! I have to look for Rachel._ She immediately started her search, and within 15 minutes had found the girls’ profile. She looked older than the last time she had seen her, but she would recognize the girl anywhere. She hurriedly clicked to add the friend, waiting anxiously to see if she would agree to add her. She spent the next 20 minutes browsing the internet, when she got a notification that her friend request had been accepted. A few minutes later, saw that she had received a new inbox message and clicked into the envelope. Her pulse was jumping as she saw it was a message from Rachel.

**Chloe!!! I can’t believe it’s you! I missed you so much. I wish you could have moved with us, this town sucks without you. How are you doing?**

**Love, Rachel.**

Chloe smiled as she read through the message from her oldest friend, and happily began responding to the beautiful blond girl.

**Rachel!!! I missed you, too! I’m doing okay, now. I’ve been through a lot. It would have been nice to avoid the first foster family I was with. My last family was pretty great… except for Karen, the mom. I will always consider my foster sister my sister. She is in the same grade as me, but a year younger. I had to repeat the 6 th grade. I have a new foster family, and so far, it’s awesome. Sheri was my nurse when I was in the hospital for a while, and decided she wanted to take me in. Her husband, Dean, seems pretty nice, too. Do you have an msn username? Mines Chloeblubeard94 if you want to add me on there. It would probably be quicker to respond.**

**Love you,**

**Chloe**

Chloe hit send before she leaned back against her pillow, waiting for Rachel’s response to her last email. She was jumped a bit when a message request popped up on her messenger. It was from Rachygirl13.

**Rachygirl13: Chloeeeeeeeeeee. I miss ur face!**

**Chloeblubeard94: I miss u 2! I can’t believe I found u on here!**

**Rachygirl13: So…**

**Rachygirl13: u said u were in the hospital**

**Rachygirl13: r u ok**

**Chloeblubeard94: I am now. I was hurt badly by my first foster family. I don’t wanna talk about it rn.**

**Chloeblubeard94: I’ll tell u more later. Promise**

**Rachygirl13: u better**

**Rachygirl13: whats ur sister’s name**

**Chloeblubeard94: Kate. Shes cool. There was also Camille and Lynn, but they’re younger, so not as close. Kate and I shared a room… and a deep loathing for her bitchy mother.**

**Rachygirl13: I’m glad u found someone 2 be there for u. Wish I could be.**

**Chloeblubeard94: Maybe sum day we’ll be reunited**

**Rachygirl13: course we will. Im not goin my whole life without seeing my bestie again! I want to go to Blackwell, so I’ve been working hard to keep my grades up.**

**Chloeblubeard94: That would be awesome! Whats ur new school like?**

**Rachygirl13: Sux. I thought it was bad there, but everyone here is so… ughhhh**

**Rachygirl13: You know the snooty, richy rich girls from our old school?**

**Chloeblubeard94: Yeah…**

**Rachygirl13: Pretty much everyone here is like that. I hate it here**

**Chloeblubeard94: I’m sorry.**

The two of them continued to talk for the next hour before Chloe felt her eyes start getting droopy. She and Rachel said their goodnights before Chloe gave the girl her new phone number and made promises that they would call and text each other all the time. Chloe slowly turned over onto her side and went to bed with a smile on her face.

The next few days went by in a quick blur. The three family members had spent the whole next day painting her new bedroom. Dean telling bad jokes that made Chloe giggle and Sheri roll her eyes at the man. The furniture store was there the following week setting up her new furniture. After all the furniture was in its place, she started hanging up her decorations and made up her bed. Dean had also bought her a 32’ flat screen tv that he had mounted to the wall above her desk. She was loving the look of her room and couldn’t wait to have Kate come over and see it. She had called Kate the day after she got her phone to give the girl her new number. She had asked Sheri if Kate would be able to spend the night sometime, and the woman had eagerly agreed and gotten into contact with Gabriel to set up day. Rachel and Chloe had kept their word and were talking to each other every day. When she had finally told the girl what had happened to her in her foster family, she had spent the next hour trying to calm the girl down.

Chloe had been excited to ‘introduce’ her two best friends and had been glad when the two girls had hit it off. Kate had showed up to her house early one morning wearing a pair of jeans and a hoodie. Chloe had given the girl a raised eyebrow and a questioning look when she had seen her. Kate had explained that Gabriel had sat her and Camille down and spoken with them about the rules that their mother had had for the whole family. He told them that she had had some ideas about how Christians should dress, and that he would take them shopping if they didn’t want to continue to wear the type of clothing she had picked out. He told them that he wanted to make sure that his children were able to express themselves, but that there would be some restrictions. Kate had immediately agreed and had been thrilled when he had taken them to a thrift shop and pick out a lot of new clothes. When she looked to Camille, who was standing next to Gabriel at the door, she saw that she must have had similar thoughts when it came to fashion.

“I love your hair,” Kate had shouted before pulling her into tight hug, and looking up to her dad behind her, “Can I cut mine, dad? It’s stupid that mom wouldn’t let me.”

“I think that could be arranged,” The man told her with a grin. He turned back to look at Dean and Sheri, shifting Lynn from his right side to his left. “Thank you for having her over. She is really looking forward to this. I wanted to give you my number just in case anything was to happen.”

“I’ll take good care of her,” Sheri assured him, “don’t you worry. Thank you for letting her come. Chloe’s been bouncing off the walls all morning.”

The adults had decided to sit down for a cup of coffee, so Chloe led the girls up to her room so they could hang out for a little bit, the two dogs following behind her and sniffling at the new peoples scents. Kate’s jaw had dropped when she walked into the room and saw how large it was. Chloe smiled and pulled the girls out to her balcony, gesturing happily at the view behind her. The blue haired girl had seen Camille eyeing the pool and told her that she would have to have them over when summer came for a pool party. The four girls headed back into Chloe’s room and turned on the tv for some background noise. By the time Gabriel came upstairs to grab Camille and Lynn, the youngest was sitting on a floor watching an episode of SpongeBob enthralled while the other 3 sat at together on the futon, giggling together while Camille talked Chloe’s ear off about her new outfits and the dogs curled up on the floor by Chloe’s feet. She had told her that she couldn’t wait to go back to school and not be the weirdo always wearing skirts and blouses.

“You girls ready to head out,” The man asked while glancing around Chloe’s new bedroom. He walked over and plucked Lynn from the floor and glanced over to see Camille giving him a frown.

“Daddy, I don’t want to go,” Camille whined, “I want to stay over with Katie and Chloe!”

“How bout we plan for a girl’s night in a couple of weeks,” Chloe asked her, giving Gabriel a big grin. “I have plans for Kate to meet my friend Rachel tonight, but in a couple of weeks maybe you could come over and we could do our nails and watch some girlie movies. If that would be okay with your Dad.”

“Absolutely,” the blond man nodded, shooting Chloe a grateful look. “You and I can have a daddy-daughter night… after Lynn goes to bed. Plus, I decided I want to take you to get your haircut if you wanted.”

“Yeah,” Camille cheered. “Can we pick out a movie at the store, Daddy? And maybe we can get some ice cream and popcorn! Daddy… can I color my hair like Chloe’s?”

“Yes, we can pick out a movie… and we can _definitely_ get some ice cream and popcorn. As for your hair,” Gabriel paused, giving the girl a considering look, “I think you’re a bit young yet to be coloring your hair. Maybe when you’re Kate’s age we can revisit the subject. Now give Katie and Chloe a hug so we can get going.”

“Aw, dad,” The girl whined before standing up to hug her sister’s goodbye. “Have fun tonight! I’m gonna plan out our next girl’s night!”

“Oh, and Katie,” Gabriel questioned as he herded Camille towards the door, “Sheri offered to take you to get your hair done tonight, if you wanted to.”

“Really,” Kate shouted out, grabbing excitedly at Chloe’s hand. “Can I color my hair?”

“You may,” Gabriel signed, “but try not to do anything too crazy. I told Sheri that you couldn’t do all over color, but if you wanted to color the tips like Chloe, that would be fine.”

An hour after the man and the two girls left, Sheri made her way up to Chloe’s room to ask if they wanted to go to the salon. Kate agreed eagerly and hurried after Sheri; chanting thank yous all the way down the stairs. Sheri laughed lightly at the girl’s exuberance and led them out to the SUV in the garage, stopping briefly in the kitchen to press a kiss to Dean’s lips and let him know where they were going. The two best friends sat in the back seat of the car, Chloe cracking jokes and causing Kate to giggle. The girls practically ran from the car once it was parked, the blue haired girl leading Kate directly to the salon. Kate had showed the stylist a picture of Kristen Bell from season one of Veronica Mars and asked for her hair to be cut in the same way. She had also gotten streaks of hot pink throughout her hair.

After leaving the salon, the three of them headed to Olive Garden for lunch. Chloe and Kate had stuffed themselves full of salad and breadsticks, only taking a few bites of their entrees. The server laughed at them as he put them into take away containers for them. After they left the restaurant, Sheri took them to the grocery store to pick out snacks and candy before heading off to Blockbuster where the two girls picked out a few scary movies to watch that night. The two girls rushed up to Chloe’s room when they got home, jamming the movie The Eye into the DVD player, and settling in on the futon with a bag of Doritos open between them. The two friends spent the next few hours watching scary movies together while Kate painted her nails. Later that night Chloe helped Kate get set up on her futon and the two of them stayed up late into the night whispering to each other. Maverick had once again curled up at the bottom of her bed.

The next several months went by quickly for Chloe. She was becoming more and more comfortable with her new family and hadn’t felt so at home since her parents died. On Christmas Eve, Chloe had met the rest of Sheri’s side of the family. She said it was a family tradition on that side for the family to get together on Christmas Eve for a big Christmas dinner. She had really gotten along with her new foster grandparents and a few of her new cousins were close to her in age. She had felt a brief moment of sadness when Sheri’s mom had been introduced as Joyce, her mind rushing back to think of the last Christmas she had had with her parents. After dinner Chloe and her cousins had gone up to her room to hang out and watch TV while the parents sat downstairs talking. Chloe had at one point ended up running down to the kitchen to grab some cookies for herself and her cousins and paused as she heard voices coming from the kitchen.

“She seems great,” Joyce stated, “I’m so glad you finally have the chance to raise a child. I’ve always known you would be a great mom.”

“Thanks,” Sheri said with a smile, handing a glass of wine off to her sister, Becci. “I’m so glad I got the chance to take her in. I felt an immediate connection to her when she was in the hospital.”

“I remember,” Becci said sadly, “when I saw the news report about that. It makes me sick to think there are people like that entrusted with children.”

“They’re both going to rot in prison where they belong.,” Joyce scowled, placing a hand on Becci’s shoulder. “She will be safe here.”

“I wish we could have gotten her sooner,” Sheri told them.

“Are you still looking into the adoption thing,” Becci asked her sister with interest. “I know you had hoped to adopt her at Christmas.”

“We have to foster her for 6 months before they will let us try to adopt her,” Sheri informed them with a slight shake of her head. “I had really hoped we would be able to adopt her right away.”

Chloe walked lightly up a few stairs before walking back down a little bit more loudly to alert them of her presence and rounded the corner into the kitchen. She gave them a cheery wave as she walked over to the table loaded down with cookies and filled a plate to take upstairs to her cousins. When she walked back into the room, one of the other kids had put on Home Alone. She sat down next to her cousin, Jessica, and shared the cookies while they all watched Kevin foil the plans of Harry and Marv. Later that night when everyone was leaving Joyce had pulled her into a hug and before telling her “Welcome to the family, sweetie.”

The next morning Chloe woke up with sunshine beaming into her eyes. She rolled over in bed and pulled the blanket over her head to try and go to sleep before she suddenly sat up in bed and remembered that it was Christmas morning. She made her way downstairs and realized that she was the first person awake in the home. She looked around thoughtfully before making her way to the kitchen and pulling down ingredients to make her mom’s recipe for pancakes. After mixing up the batter, she made her way over to the coffee machine and started that brewing before stopping at the refrigerator and pulling out a package of bacon. The smell of cooking food must have woken her new family, because within minutes of putting it in the pan to fry, they were downstairs. Chloe smiled at them and made each of them a plate of breakfast and setting it in front of them on the table.

“Hon, you didn’t have to cook for us,” Dean told her with a kind smile lighting up his eyes, “but thank you. I’m sure it’s delicious!”

She grabbed a plate for herself and joined them at the table, setting the butter dish and a bottle of syrup on the table. The family of three dug into their meals, the adults complimenting Chloe on how good her food was. She told them that the pancakes had been her mom’s recipe, and that she was happy to share it with them. After breakfast they headed into the living room, where the Christmas tree was sat with a large pile of presents beneath it. The couple traded presents to each other first, as they wanted to watch Chloe open her’s together. The man had gotten her a white gold necklace with a heart surrounded by diamonds, while she had gotten him an expensive wristwatch that was able to be immersed in water. After they traded their presents, they sat back to watch Chloe open hers. She had gotten very excited when she unwrapped an Xbox 360, and had jumped up to give them hugs. She had also received a few games for it. They had realized that she was into fantasy and sci-fi, so had gotten her The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion, Fable 2 and Fallout 3. They had also purchased her several DVD’s, including a copy of her favorite movie, Blade Runner: Director’s Cut, and the final thing she had opened had been a blue luggage set covered in peace signs. She looked up at them quizzically.

“What are these for,” She had asked them with confusion in her voice.

“Well,” Sheri told her with a grin, “we bought you a luggage set for our upcoming family vacation.”

“What vacation,” Chloe questioned.

“Hawaii,” Dean told her excitedly. “We leave tomorrow. You’re going to need to pack today… at some point.”

Chloe felt her jaw drop as she stared at the couple in shock. _They’re taking me to Hawaii?_ Sheri chuckled and grabbed her hand to lead her up to her room to help her start packing. The shorter woman walked into her closet to pull out a bag she had hidden with some new swimsuits for the girl. The two of them packed up her luggage, while talking about the upcoming plans that the adults had made. Chloe was a little bit nervous about flying, since she hadn’t ever been on a plane before, but Sheri had told her not to worry.

The next morning, they woke up at 2 am to make their way to the airport, Chloe sleepily making her way through security. It was only 5 am when they got on the plane and were seated in their first-class seats. Chloe leaned against the window, watching the tarmac speed past her before they were suddenly airborne. She felt a rush of exhilaration in her stomach and peered excitedly down at the ground rapidly shrinking below her. She looked over at Sheri in the seat next to her with a large grin, pointing out tiny towns below them as the sun rose above the clouds. Later, as they disembarked the plane, a woman was there putting a lei of flowers around their necks.

The week in Hawaii sped by for Chloe. She spent her time relaxing on the beach, eating delicious food and being taught to surf by a staff member of the resort they were staying at. She wasn’t particularly good at it, but she did find it very fun. Sheri had brought her camera with them and had spent the whole trip taking photos of them. When she went back to school after returning, she had a lot of stories to tell her friends. She had brought home some gifts for Kate and her sisters and had mailed off a souvenir she had brought home for Rachel.

The next few months were much the same as the first few she had spent with her new foster parents. Chloe spent a lot of time with Kate and some new friends she had met at school named Steph and Mikey. The two new friends in her group had bonded with them over tabletop games. The weather started warming up and Chloe’s 14th birthday drew near. She couldn’t wait to traverse through the trees behind her house, or for summer to come so she could invite her friends over for a bar-b-que and pool party. After school, on March 11th, Chloe made her way into her house and saw her foster parent’s sitting in the living room with a few wrapped presents on the coffee table.

“Happy birthday, Chloe,” They cheered at her and patted a seat on the couch for her to join them. The two of them reached over and pulled a few presents off the table. The first one was a large pack of Prismacolor’s colored pencils. The second was a 36 count Copic marker set which had Chloe practically drooling and ready to run up to her room and color with them. The third one was a new sketchpad, as Sheri had noted that Chloe was getting close to the end of her current one. The final one was unwrapped to reveal a t-shirt box. Chloe looked at them and smiled before opening it, only to find a large envelope on the inside of it. She slowly reached her hand forward and lifted the envelope from the box and carefully unclasped it. She reached her hand in and felt papers and slowly tugged them free of the envelope. Her jaw dropped as she looked at them and she could feel tears begin to pool in her eyes.

“Is this…” Chloe cut off, swallowing a lump in her throat.

“Chloe Elizabeth Price,” Sheri stated, reaching over to place her hand atop of Chloe’s, “will you do us the honor of officially becoming our daughter?”

“You really want to adopt me,” Chloe asked, voice cracking with emotion as her tears slowly brimmed over her eyes and traveled slowly down her cheeks.

“Really,” Dean confirmed, “Nothing would make us happier.”

“Okay,” Chloe muttered, causing Sheri to whoop and pull her into a tight hug.

A week later, the three of them were standing in a courtroom in front of a judge, being declared a family. Later that evening the family went out for a nice dinner, where they were joined by Chloe’s new grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. The whole family had welcomed her with open arms, and Chloe hadn’t felt so secure in years. She was beaming at them in happiness as everyone congratulated herself and her new parents. The following weekend they went to have photos done by a professional photographer that had just moved to the area to begin teaching at Blackwell Academy. Chloe had gotten a pretty bad vibe from him but thought that his photos of their family turned out pretty spectacular.

One Saturday morning, towards the end of April, Chloe woke up to the sound of a moving truck beeping as is backed into the driveway next door. She groaned and rolled over in bed to glare blearily at the alarm clock on her bedside table. _Ugh… 7:30 AM. Who moves at this ungodly hour?_ Chloe debated rolling back over and going back to sleep, but eventually decided to get up and start her day. She made her way down to the kitchen and got herself a bowl of Froot Loops, chewing thoughtfully while she considered what she wanted to do with her morning. Wilson was sitting under the table, staring at her hopefully as she ate, waiting for any small scrap to fall so he could eat it. She eventually decided that the day would be a good one to go out and do some drawing. After rinsing out her bowl, she wrote a brief letter to her parents, letting them know where she was and made her way up to her room and grabbed her sketchbook and her pencil bag.

She walked out the front door and saw a moving team moving unloading a large moving truck and a small figure was carrying a large box while large, burly man with a dark auburn beard heaved a larger box from the truck and hopped down to carry it inside. _Why does he look so familiar?_ Chloe gave the man a long look as she walked past towards her back yard, hearing a female voice behind her start speaking.

“Let me help you with that box, Maxine.”

“Thanks, mom,” a soft voice came from behind the box. “It’s not very heavy, but I can’t really see where I’m going.”

“Why don’t the two of this get this box in and leave the heavy lifting to Dad and the movers.”

Chloe glanced back for a moment before continuing on, seeing the box lower slightly as the back of a brown-haired woman moved forward to help the with her load. She turned back and headed towards a trail leading into the woods, sticks and branches crunching under her feet as she made her way further into the woods. Off to her right she saw a flutter of blue that instantly caught her eye and turned her head to follow the movement. She spotted a bright blue butterfly fluttering into a clearing to land on a flower within a large bed of wildflowers. Chloe could see multiple butterflies all over the clearing and felt her eyes widening, knowing that she just _had_ to draw this. She sat down in the grass and eyed the view, already pulling her pencils from her bag and started sketching.

Chloe had just set down her green pencil and was reaching for her blue to start working on the vibrant butterflies when she heard a stick crack, and some sort of a mechanical whir. She whipped her head to look up and didn’t even have time to utter a syllable of warning as the person facing away from her took a step back, tripping over her with her arms grasping for purchase. The girl yelped and made a slight ‘oof’ as she landed gracelessly into Chloe’s lap, causing the nearby butterflies to startle and start spinning around them. Chloe felt the wind knocked from her lungs and spent a few seconds trying to catch her breath. She looked up and the first thing she saw was slight girl with brown hair hanging in her face. Chloe looked at the girl in concern, hoping she hadn’t hurt herself and opened her mouth to ask if she was okay. The girl slowly lifted a freckled hand to brush the hair from her face, and Chloe felt her breath catch.

Sunlight was streaming down on them catching on the girl’s brown hair with natural looking highlights of auburn glowing like burning coals. The girl had blue eyes that Chloe felt were staring into her soul, and there were freckles spanning across the small, cute nose the girl had. Two large splotches of red were spreading across the girl’s cheeks as she started stuttering in embarrassment. Chloe’s eyes widened as she saw the luminous blue butterflies fluttering around them wildly and felt recognition slam into her head. _This is Max._

“Are you okay,” Chloe asked as she continued looking deeply into the other girl’s eyes.

“I-I’m so sorry,” The other girl stuttered, awkwardly climbing from her lap. “I didn’t see you there. I was taking a picture of a butterfly.”

“It’s okay,” Chloe stated, putting a hand on the girl’s arm before deciding that probably seemed weird and withdrawing it. “You aren’t hurt, are you?”

“No,” Max said, still looking at the ground as she awkwardly brushed her hands over her jeans. She eventually looked back. “Just my pride. I… you look familiar. Have we met somewhere?”

“I’m Chloe, by the way,” Chloe said, standing up and holding out her hand to shake the other girls, avoiding the question at all costs. _Don’t want to scare her away._ The other girl took her hand in a soft grasp and lightly shook it, a smile growing on her face.

“I’m Max… Max Caulfield,” She stated, staring up at Chloe in contemplation. Chloe watched as her eyes widened slightly. “I just moved here… today, actually. This is going to sound completely crazy, but I think I’ve been having dreams about you.”

“I…” Chloe paused briefly weighing the options of telling her the truth before continuing, “I don’t think that sounds crazy. I’ve dreamt of you, too… for a couple of years now.”

“Wowser,” The other girl muttered, covering her mouth in surprise, “Are you cereal? This is so weird. Nothing like this has ever happened to me before.”

“It’s actually not outside my realm of normal,” Chloe said, chuckling slightly and bending to grab her sketchbook and pencils. “A few years ago, I nearly died, and I’ve been seeing some pretty crazy shit since.”

“Wow,” Max breathed, looking at her in awe, “that’s so cool! I would love to have superpowers someday.”

“Maybe if we hang out a lot, you’ll get some of your own.” Chloe joked, gesturing towards the trail leading back towards her house. “Do you want to come over to my place? I’m having some friends over later to play some D&D.”

“You play,” Max questioned, surprise coloring her tone. “You’re even cooler than I originally thought!”

“Yeah,” Chloe told her excitedly. “My friend Steph is our dungeon master. We’re right in the middle of a campaign, but I’m sure Steph has some extra characters if you want to play with us! Then you could work on your own.”

“That sounds so fun,” Max exclaimed, giving an excited bounce.

The two girls rounded the corner and came to a halt, seeing Sheri standing outside on Max’s lawn talking to the smaller girl’s mom. She saw Sheri tilt her head back and laugh loudly at something the dark-haired woman had said. Max and Chloe shared a look before walking closer to the chatting women.

“Hey, Ma,” Chloe stated casually, throwing an arm over the woman’s shoulder, and peering shyly at Max’s mother while the freckled girl stood next to her.

“Hey hon, this is our new neighbor, Vanessa,” Sheri introduced them cheerily.

“Hi,” Chloe said with a half wave and pleasant smile, “It’s nice to meet you!”

“You too,” Vanessa said, reaching forward to shake Chloe’s hand, “Sheri, this is my daughter Max. It looks like our girls have already met. Max smiled shyly at the woman, giving a slight nod in hello before looking pleadingly at her mom.

“Mom, Chloe invited me over to play games with her and her friends,” Max mumbled, “May I please go?”

“Sure,” Vanessa crooned, throwing an arm around her daughter after getting an accepting nod from Sheri. “It’ll be a nice way for you to make some new friends.”

“Did Pops already go to the store,” Chloe asked Sheri after sharing a high five with Max. “Are there any certain snacks that you want to munch on?”

“He left a few minutes ago,” Sheri responded, lightly squeezing the blue-haired girl’s shoulder. “if you think of anything you need, feel free to send him a text. What time are your other friends supposed to be coming?”

“Uhhh, Kate said she would be here around 10, and Steph and Mikey around 11.”

“Okay, do you kids want us to order you some pizzas,” Sheri asked, giving a wink to Max, who turned slightly pink.

“Sure,” Chloe chirped, sending a wide grin to her new friend. “do you wanna come over and help me get some of the area set up? Also, do you have a dice set? If not, I have some extra sets you can choose from.”

“Our Chloe is a bit of a dice goblin,” Sheri joked, ruffling her daughter’s hair jokingly.

“Ma,” Chloe whined slightly, brushing her hair back into order and making a quick glance at Max. Sheri snorted lightly and waved them off to the house, turning back to continue her discussion with Vanessa. Chloe could hear the woman inviting the family over for a bar-b-que the next weekend with the Marsh’s. The two younger girls shared an excited look before Chloe led her into the house. She led the girl up to her room so she could store her art supplies and pulled out her phone.

**Chloe: Hey Pops. R u still at the store?**

**Pops: Yup. What do you need?**

**Chloe: Could u plz pick up some popcorn, m &m’s and coke?**

**Pops: Sure thing, chicken wing. :p**

**Chloe: ur such a dork**

**Pops: you love that about me.**

**Chloe: Yeah yeah**

Chloe snorted and flipped her phone to show Max her messages. The freckled girl giggled as she read the message. After a brief pause, Chloe had a sudden thought that she should probably warn the dungeon master about the new player.

**Chloe: Hey Steph! Just wanted 2 let u know, I got a new neighbor, and she wants 2 join our campaign. I hope that’s cool with u.**

**Steph: YESSSSSS! We always need new victims. Muahahahahaha**

**Steph: Do you want me 2 bring the character sheets I’ve made for her 2 look thru?**

**Chloe: That was the idea…**

**Chloe: U dork. Hahah**

**Steph: >:/ **

**Steph: be kind to the dungeon master… u never know what I’ll throw at u.**

“You call your dad Pops,” Max asked with a big grin on her face, “I call mine Pop. What a coincidence!”

“Yeah… My biological parents will always be Mom and Dad to me,” Chloe told her, shuffling her feet awkwardly. “My adoptive parents are Ma and Pops.”

“Oh, I didn’t realize…” Max cut off slowly, giving Chloe a sad look with her big doe eyes.

“It’s okay,” Chloe said softly, returning Max’s look. “It was a few years ago. They got t-boned by a semi.”

“I’m so sorry, Chloe,” Max croaked sadly, “I can’t even imagine. Was that the near death experience you were talking about?”

“Not exactly,” Chloe denied, shaking her head gently. “It was after they… well, you know. I was put in a really bad foster family. The dad hurt me and my foster sisters, and the wife got jealous. She k-killed the other girls and tried to kill me… but I’m a fighter. I briefly got to see my mom and dad… they said they were looking after me and that I would find my forever family and the person who would be my soulmate.”

“wow! That’s insane,” Max exclaimed in shock. “I’m so sorry you had to live with those sickos. Did they get arrested?”

“Yeah, they’re gonna live out the rest of their days in prison,” Chloe answered, “My next foster family was pretty good, except for the foster mom. She was pretty awful.”

“Did she hurt you, too,” Max asked, looking sad.

“No, she was just a horrible bitch,” Chloe told her, “Her daughter is my best friend, though. I will consider her my sister for the rest of my life. Her husband divorced her, and she slapped Kate in the face, so she is still only having supervised visits. After that, I came to live with Ma and Pops.”

“I’m glad you found a family,” The girl told her, smiling at her shyly.

“Me too. Can you help me carry some of the tabletop stuff down to the dining room,” Chloe asked, giving her a pleading look which turned to a grin as the girl nodded and started following her from the room.

The new friends walked into the craft room where Chloe grabbed a board that had an intricate map drawn out on it. She had spent hours drawing it to Steph’s specifications. She also pulled down Steph’s DM screen, which she had also designed to coincide with their current campaign. She pointed out a small tote that was full of different sets of dice, as well as Steph’s Dice tower that they had picked out at a local boardgame store called Just For Fun. She was glad she had met her friends. There was one weekend they had all come over to her house to paint their miniatures.

“We may have to make another trip,” Chloe told her as she made her way through the doorway and carefully down the stairs. At the bottom of the steps, Chloe turned to lead Max to the formal dining room. The table there was bigger than the one in the kitchen, so they tended to use that when they played every other weekend. She set up Steph’s screen at the head of the table, setting the dice tower up behind it. She took the map and set it in the middle of the table, taking the tote from Max and pulling out her friend’s miniatures, and placing them accordingly on the map, looking at a list of where they had been at the end of their last game day, seeing that they had all been resting in an Inn in the town that was holding a festival that they were all guarding.

She had pointed out the different players seats, telling Max where to place each of their dice trays. She pulled out the different sets of dice, placing them at each of the seats. Her dice were the color of the tips of her hair, Kate had some that were colored like the sky during aurora borealis, and Mikey had a set of poison green dice that he was fond of playing with. She showed Max the dice that were remaining in the box, pulling out a set of purple, sparkly dice, magenta dice, red dice, and a set of metal dice. Max had immediately grabbed the purple set, oohing and ahing over them.

“My precious,” She said in her best imitation of Smeagol, giving Chloe a face splitting grin. “before I forget… thank you for inviting me. I never did ask. How old are you?”

“I just turned 14 last month,” Chloe told her, looking up at her with a grin as she pulled out some extra miniatures they had painted. “What about you?”

“I’ll be 13 in September,” Max told her, a light frown marring her face. “Darn. I had hoped we’d be in the same grade.”

“Are you in the seventh grade?”

“Yeah,” Max told her, nodding her head, “do the seventh and eighth graders go to the same school?”

“Actually, when I was in that _bad_ home, I was unable to pass,” Chloe mentioned offhandedly, “I’m actually currently in the seventh grade. Kate and I are both in seventh grade, so you could have classes with both of us. I know you’ll get along. Wanna come with me to grab the last of the stuff in the craft room?”

“Awesome! I hope we do have classes together, then,” Max told her, “lead the way!”

The two of them made their way back up to the craft room, where Chloe showed her everyone’s notebooks. Max was very impressed when she realized how artistic Chloe and all of her friends were. Each of them had different styles, but they were all very well done. The blue haired girl smiled and pulled out a blank notebook for Max to use.

“We can decorate it together, sometime… if you want,” Chloe said with a slight question raising in her voice.

“Absolutely,” Max chirped excitedly. “This is so sweet! I can’t wait to play. My dad would let me join in with him and his friends sometimes.”

“Your friends didn’t like to play,” Chloe asked her before grabbing a jar with pens and making their way back down the stairs.

“I didn’t really have friends in Seattle,” Max told her, looking down in embarrassment. “There was a girl there that made my life miserable, and anytime someone would try to be nice to me, she would start picking on them, too.”

“She sounds delightful,” Chloe stated sardonically with an exaggerated eye roll. “Well, you don’t have to worry, here. I know my friends will like you. What was the mean girl’s name? I need to add her to my shit list.”

“Victoria Chase,” Max growled with a deep scowl on her face, “I never did figure out why she hated me so much. I just assumed it was because I’m such a loser.”

“I’ve only known you for an hour or so, but you’re definitely not a loser,” Chloe told her firmly, “I can sense these things in people. I have superpowers, remember? I have foreseen that you will have lots of friends here!”

“Really,” Max asked with a disbelieving snort, “I think you’re just trying to be nice… but thanks”

“I’m sure of it,” Chloe assured her, giving her a caring smile, “I know that you and I are going to be lifelong friends. Just as I know that my friends will adore you!”

“If you’re sure,” Max said, worry still prevalent in her voice. The two of them were halfway down the stairs when the front door opened, and Kate peered around the door. Her eyes lit up in excitement when she saw Chloe and made her way the rest of the way through the door. The dogs ran forward to greet her. Chloe _almost_ thought the dogs liked her sister better than her.

“Heya, sista,” Kate exclaimed and dropped to her knees to scritch the dog’s ears. The two of them made their way down the rest of the stairs and Chloe could see the girl’s eyes widen as she caught sight of Max trailing along behind her. “Hi! I don’t think we’ve met, before! I’m Kate, but for today you can call me Katherine the Great.”

“Hi,” Max beamed, covering a giggle with her hand, “I’m Max. I just moved in next door and met Chloe, here, this morning. Katherine the Great, huh? You must be a pretty hard-core character!”

“She’s a halfling,” Chloe giggled, sending a wink to her best friend. “Though, she is pretty scrappy.”

“I’ll have you know… I may be a halfling, but I have the strength of 10 giants,” Kate joked, standing up and flexing her nonexistent arm muscles. “rawrrrrr.”

“Terrifying,” Chloe joked, leading a laughing Max back into the dining room, and setting the players notebooks in their spots with their dice. The three girls made a trip out to the garage to grab a folding table that they would be able to stack their snacks upon. The three of them maneuvered the table into the dining room, setting it up in the corner of the room. She could see Max’s shoulders relaxing as she became more comfortable in Kate’s presence.

“Chlo,” Dean’s voice yelled from the kitchen, “I’m back with your snacks. I also picked up a large bag of ice and a cooler for you to set up drinks in.”

“Coming, Pops,” Chloe hollered back, the three girls making their way to the kitchen with easy conversation. “Pops, this is Max. She just moved in next door! We’re gonna be best friends forever!”

“It’s nice to meet you, Max,” Dean smiled, waving a hand that was currently carrying a bag full of snacks. “I’m glad Chloe finally has someone around her own age living in the neighborhood. All her other friends live across town. Hi, Kate!”

“Heya, Mr. T,” Kate chirped next to him, giving him a sly smirk.

“I pity the foo,” Dean joked at her, causing Kate to burst into peals of giggles as he walked back into the garage to grab more groceries.

“Wow,” Max joked next to them, “my Pop is going to love him. He’s just as corny.”

“There are dad jokes aplenty around here,” Chloe informed her, “Especially when Pops and Kate’s dad get together. Your dad will fit right in… if he’s anything like them.”

Kate had put the bag of ice into the cooler, along with different dip’s that Dean had purchased, and hefted it into her hands, while Chloe pulled down bowls for the bags of chips they had gotten and picked up a 12 pack of coke. She looped the bag of chips on one of her hands while Max grabbed a 24 pack of bottled water. The three of them carefully made the way back into the dining room, Kate grunting as she heaved the cooler up onto the table. Chloe looked at her and gave her a smirk.

“Strong as 10 giants, huh,” She teased. Kate gave her an unimpressed and turned back to the cooler. She lifted the lid and gently removed the dip before hefting out the large bag of ice. She saw that it was all frozen together, so she lifted it and let it drop to the floor, watching as the large clumps of ice broke up into smaller pieces. The blond bent and lifted the bag, setting it on the table and tearing a hole into it. She carefully lifted the bag and dumped the ice out into the cooler, crumpling up the bag when it was empty and setting it off to the side. The three of them worked together to put some of the sodas, waters, and dips into the ice, making sure to cover the drinks completely so they would be ice cold. Chloe was opening the bags of chips to dump into bowls when Dean made his way into the room carrying a large fruit tray.

“I bought you this fruit,” the retired surgeon joked, “I figured I should at least put something healthy out here. When the rest of your friends get here, can you let me know what kind of pizza they want, so we can get that ordered?”

“Sure! Thanks, Pops! Is Ma still outside talking to Vanessa?”

“You know it,” Dean stated, “I think she’s found a new best friend. Though, I’m sure she’ll be in soon so she can throw dinner in the crockpot”

“That makes both of us,” Chloe responded, sending a smile over to Max. She felt a flutter in her stomach as the girl’s blue eyes lit up in happiness.

The three of them continued getting everything ready before the other 2 members of their party came over. They were just finishing up when Mikey and Steph walked into the room. He was wearing a wizard’s cap and had a backpack slung over his back and greeted them with a large grin on his face. Steph was carrying a small stack of posterboards and paused to drop them off at her seat.

“Greetings and salutations,” Mikey shouted as he walked toward his seat, grabbing his notebook, and flipping to the last used page. “I thought I forgot to level up before leaving last time.”

“Of course, you did,” Steph groaned, rolling her eyes. “Oh well. That will give me time to go over some character sheets with our new friend, here. You must be Chloe’s new neighbor?”

“Yeah,” Max muttered quietly, giving the girl a shy smile, “I’m Max.”

“Nice to meet you,” Steph exclaimed loudly, sending a blinding smile at the younger girl, “I’m Steph. I’ll be your dungeon master this evening. Have you ever played before?”

“Er, well. I played with my dad and a couple of his buddies a few times,” Max told her in almost a whisper.

“Excellent,” Steph grinned, “Well if you need any help, we’ll be here to help you! If you wanna come sit by me, I can show you some of the character sheets I’ve got available.”

Chloe smiled at the freckled girl, watching as she slowly shuffled her way over toward Steph, who grabbed her arm and pulled her down in a seat next to her. Pulling a large stack of papers from her overnight bag and spreading them out at the empty end of the table. She slowly flipped through the characters and helped Max finally decide on a level 4 high elf Paladin she decided to call Hil’leigh Maximillian. Within half an hour of the party getting together, there was a stack of pizzas for them on the snack table. They all hurriedly ate their pizza so they could get started. Steph practically vacuumed her slices in because she was eager to start.

“Alright, gang,” Steph shouted, standing up and clapping her hands, “it is time to continue our campaign, Heart of Stone.”

The group took their seats, Max sitting directly to Chloe’s right. Chloe gave her a grin as she lightly nudged her in excitement.

“You ready for this,” Chloe whispered with an easy smile, “Steph is one dangerous dungeon master. Mikey and I had to create new characters for this campaign because our last ones were killed off”

“Don’t remind me,” The dark-skinned boy groused from across the table while adjusting his glasses. “I worked so hard on my last one. Hopefully Elamon will last.”

Steph gave a fancy bow before taking her seat, tugging a few gulps of water, and clearing her throat.

“All is silent and still as the sun _slowly_ rises over the quaint farming village Ja’nunery. The silence, were anyone awake to notice it, would be deafening. The wind spun around the village in an icy, gusting chill,” Steph narrated, voice low in a low, raspy tone, “Suddenly the silence is broken by a shrill, piercing scream echoing through the town with an eerie, menacing howl. The sound shatters the resident’s restful slumber, causing many more screams to join the first. Inside the Whispering Willow Inn, our adventurers are startled from their healing sleeps; jumping to their feet, brandishing their weapons and whipping their heads wildly around them as they search in vain for the source of the torturous shriek.”

Steph pauses and takes a deep breath, shrieking loudly at the top of her lungs. Mikey and Kate yelled out in surprise, the blond sending a light glare at her dungeon master. As she placed her hand over her racing heart. Chloe and Max both jumped, the younger girl knocking over her bottle of water and releasing a startled ‘eep’. She blushed and righted her water, shooting glances around the table in embarrassment. Maverick and Wilson came shooting into the room growling and looking for a threat. They whined and huffed as they didn’t see any and went to lay at Chloe’s feet under the table. Steph giggled at the group before opening her mouth to continue her story.

“The second screech had been even louder than the first, tearing through any silence that had possibly remained and leaving our adventurers with ringing ears and hair raising along the backs of their necks. A thick static permeates the air, drawing our heroes from their rooms with an almost magnetic pull. The group walks through the inn, down the stairs and out into the town square in a sort of hypnotic stupor. As the adventurers exit the inn, they see the villagers shuffling aimlessly toward the center of town, towards the old black well. On the ground at the base of the well lays a prone form, were anyone aware enough to notice it. A third piercing shriek emanates from deep within the bowels of the well, louder than should be possible. The villagers all fall to their knees, clutching their heads in agony, as they one by one turn to stone. Only four of you remain standing… Elamon, wizard of the third circle, Callamastia, Elf barbarian, Katherine the Great, Rogue Halfling, and an as of yet unknown high elf. Introduce yourself, young Paladin.”

“I slowly approach the standing adventurers,” Max intoned in a faked English accent, shifting a bit awkwardly in her seat. “Hello fellow warriors. I am Hil’leigh Maximillian. I am a high elf of noble heritage and have been adventuring on my own for many moons. I’m quite pleased to make your acquaintance.”

“Callamastia rushes forward, grasping Hil’leigh’s hand and bending to brush a kiss against her knuckles. I am most pleased to meet you, milady,” Chloe stated, turning to face Max in her seat, “My name is Callamastia, elf barbarian and defender of the common.”

“Katherine climbs up Callamastia’s back reaching forward to shake Hil’leigh’s hand,” Kate gushed from the other side of the table, “It is ever so lovely to meet you. My name is Katherine the Great, Rogue Halfling. If you need someone to pick a lock, I’m your gal. There is no lock in all of Avernon that has been able to best me.”

“Elamon tips his hat in greeting,” Mikey states in a faked gruff voice, “I am Elamon, Wizard of the third circle and sworn defender of Avernon. We have been sent by King Tiberius to search for the missing Prince Wyndemere. Has he sent you to aid us?”

“I was just passing through town on my way toward the Kingdom,” Max informed them, “Hil’leigh turns to look at the stone figures around them. What do you think has happened here? I’ve never seen anything quite like this.”

“Nor have I,” Mikey affirms, “I think we should investigate before moving on… maybe get some health potions since we don’t have a Cleric in our party.”

“Are you suggesting we rob these folks blind while they’re stoned,” Chloe joked with a snicker, “I do believe all of the merchants are frozen in place.”

“Well,” Max stated, pausing for effect, “We could always take the potions and leave the gold on the counters.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Kate says, sending a smile across to Max. “Before we go, I would like to investigate one of these… villagers.”

“Okay,” Steph agreed with a nod, “Roll for perception.”

Kate lifted her d20 and dropped it into her dice tray, groaning as she saw the 1 staring back at her. She remembers that she has the lucky trait and picks it back up to reroll.

“Seriously,” Kate whined, seeing yet another one, “Lucky my ass!”

“Katherine moves forward, placing her hand upon the head of the nearest statue and bends down to peer into its eyes,” Steph states, a smirk growing on her face while rolling a dice behind her screen, “a deafening screech echoes in your mind, causing you to howl loudly as the pain explodes in your head, and a pounding begins in your chest. Your other hand reflexively lifts to grasp at your chest to try and relieve the pressure building within. You can feel blood start trickling from your ears and long to release your grip upon the head of the girl, but it’s as if your hand has been sealed to it. You take 16 points of damage.”

“Shit,” Chloe swears under her breath, “Callamastia runs forward and grasps Katherine’s hand tugging hard to break the connection between the statue and the halfling.”

“Roll for reflex,” Steph requests, watching as Chloe lifts her dice and rolls a 17. “As Callamastia tears Katherine’s hand away from the statue, she feels a large energy growing from the stone and grabs Katherine before rolling out of the way. The wild energy shoots off over her head, crashing into the wood above the well. Crack, crumble, CRASH. The wood breaks into multiple pieces, large chunks falling down the well and clunking off the walls. You all wait to hear the splash as the falling wood reaches the bottom… instead you hear a deafening thud as the wood hits the stony bottom of the well. Katherine lays whimpering upon the ground, gripping at her head as tears meander down her face.”

“Dammit,” Kate grumbled under her breath, “Of course I would immediately get injured. I only have 3 hit points left”

“Elamon rushes forward, falling to his knees and laying a comforting hand upon Katherine’s shoulder,” Mikey remarked sympathetically, “He lifts the girl into his arms and begins heading towards the potions shop, yelling over his shoulder for the other two to follow him.”

“Callamastia and Hil’leigh hurry after him, running towards Penelope’s Potent Potions and Poisons. Elamon slams the door open, sending the tinkling bell crashing to the ground with a loud **_thwunk_** ,” Steph narrates.

“Elamon hurries towards the counter, laying Katherine’s shuttering form upon it. He rushes around the counter and pulls down a healing potion,” Mikey states, “and makes his way back over to Katherine and helps her to swallow the potion by lightly massaging her throat.”

“Roll for healing,” Steph tells him, giving him a nod. Mikey picks up two d4s and rolls them. With the 2 extra points, he heals her for 7 points of healing. They decide collectively to do a short rest so that Katherine can regain the rest of her hit points. They stock up on healing potions and a grateful that Hil’leigh is noble so they can combine their gold to purchase as many potions as possible. They decide to make their way back towards the well, where Elamon does a perception check to see how deep the well goes. They discover that it is a 30 foot well and decide to tie one of the ropes in their kits to some of the remaining wood around the well and repel their way down.

“The four of you reach the bottom of the well and squint around while feeling for a door with your hands. You can see nothing around you. The only thing that can be seen is the light at the opening of the well. What do you do?”

“I crouch down and feel around for one of the broken pieces of wood,” Mikey tells her confidently,” I feel my hand brush against a piece of the board on the ground and cast light upon it to help us illuminate the area.”

“Elamon’s casting is perfect, and the piece of wood immediately brightens, lighting up the bottom of the well. You can see behind Hil’leigh that there is a small door. Most of you would need to crawl to make it through it. On the ground in the rubble of the broken boards is a skeleton, covered in scraps of clothing.”

“Is this door locked,” Kate asked, looking over to Steph.

“You can investigate if you’d like,” Steph tells her. Kate nods and lifts her d20, throwing it into her tray and watching as it rolls around for a moment before landing on 14. “You check the door and see that it is, indeed, locked.”

“Katherine pulls out her thief’s tools and starts working at opening the door,” Kate says, grabbing for her d20 before Steph can even finish telling her to roll for dexterity. She rolls a 13 but has a 5-point advantage.

“You hear the lock click as the door slowly creaks open, crrrrrrkkkkkk,” Steph acts out the loud, “What would you like to do?”

“I am going to check the body for artefacts before we go in,” Max says, pulling out her own d20 and rolling it. “Yes! Nat 20!”

“Hil’leigh bends down and starts searching through what remains of the skeleton’s pockets,” Steph surmised as she flipped through her notebook behind her screen, making a slight ‘ah’ as she found what she had been looking for. “You dig through his cloak and pull out a bag containing 15 gold. As the cloak falls to the side, you see that he has a dagger with runes and jewels in a holster on his belt. You reach forward and take that, feeling a jolt of power that leaves you feeling energized surge through you as it touches your bare skin. Finally, you take a look at his hands and see an ornate, silver ring with a large sapphire stone.”

“Damn, girl,” Chloe said sending an impressed grin at Max, “You just hit the jackpot on that one. Good call!”

“Did anyone else want to do anything before we go through the door,” Kate asked, looking between Mike and Chloe. The two of them shook their heads, so Steph continued her story, after adding one of the large posterboards she had brought with her. They can see that on the poster board there is tunnel drawn, and a black cloth covers the rest of the map. Each of the players takes their miniatures and place them on the map.

“The four of you enter through the door, Katherine short enough to walk normally, and Callamastia, Elamon and Hil’leigh having to crawl on all fours. There are layers upon layers of cobwebs, so thick you are unable to see the end of the tunnel.”

“Katherine pulls out her dagger and slices her way through the webbing,” Kate states, grabbing a pen from the cup and imitating slashing motions.

“Katherine cuts through the cobwebs, and you each continue on down the long, dark tunnel. As you wander down the tunnel, the ceiling starts getting taller. Ahead you can see a small flicker of light, growing larger as you get closer and closer. As you reach the end of the tunnel you find yourselves in a large circular room with 4 wall sconces lighting it up. There doesn’t appear to be any doors.”

“I would like to investigate the area,” Chloe states, looking at Steph for confirmation, who nods and tells her to roll, “how’s an 18 sound?”

“As you are investigating around the chamber, you find a stone that doesn’t seem to be as secure as the rest of them. You notice that it doesn’t seem to have anything holding it secure,” Steph tells the group.

“I would like to press against the stone,” Chloe says.

“As Callamastia presses the stone, it sinks into the wall behind it, opening a secret passageway,” Steph states, moving the poster board closer to her and placing out a second one, also covered in black fabric pieces.

“Hil’leigh creeps forward into the room,” Max tells Steph. Everyone else states they continue into the room with her.

“As the adventurers move forward into the room, you see a large square room with three other locked doors on the other walls. As you enter, the door slams shut behind you and two zombies burst out through the ground ahead,” Steph states, pulling out two undead miniatures and placing them on the map, “Roll for initiative.”

The five people seated at the table grab their d20’s and roll. Chloe rolls a 10, Max a 13, Mikey a 12, Kate an 8 and Steph rolls a 1. Steph moved some homemade character cards around to track the order of the attacks.

“I am going to attack the one on the left with my longsword,” Max grabs her d20 and rolls for strength, getting a 12 with plus 3 modifier. Steph tells her it hits, so she rolls for damage. Max grabs her d8 and rolls for damage, getting a 7 with a 5 modifier.

“Hil’leigh lifts her sword over her head and slashes it downward over the head of the zombie. The creature releases a loud shriek as your blade slices through it, blood splattering against the wall behind it,” Steph releases a loud yell, contorting her body in faked pain, and using her hands to pretend it was blood gushing out of her.

“Elamon is going to do a firebolt on the same zombie,” Mikey says, lifting his d20 and throwing it into his tray. He rolls a 19 and grabs his d10 to roll for damage. “Yes, that’s 10 points of damage.”

“Elamon lifts his hands, building a large ball of flame between them and shooting it towards the zombie. It hits the creature with a _whoosh_ setting it immediately to flame. Its pained cries get quieter and quieter until it burns to ash. Callamastia, what would you like to do?”

“Callamastia is going to attack using her battle axe,” Chloe states, grabbing her d20 and rolling it. “NOOOOOOOOO. A ONE?”

“Callamastia runs forward with her sword over her head,” Steph says while giggling, “As she is running, she trips over a rock and falls forward, arm flailing out uselessly while the base of her axe rushes towards the top of Hil’leigh’s head. Roll for reflex.”

“4,” Max says with a slight pout, “that’s not good.”

“It is for me,” Steph cackles, rolling behind her screen for damage “as Callamastia is flailing her arms, the flat of her axe crashes down on Hil’leigh head with a loud _thwack,_ dealing 7 points of damage.”

“Ah, my head,” Max cries in an exaggerated voice, gripping the top of her own head with a giggle. Chloe feels her heart melt a little when she hears the sweet sound coming from her lips. Max turns to look at her with a fake frown and sends her a wink. Chloe feels her stomach do a little flip as the girl continues speaking, “What’d you do that for, Calli-girl?”

“I am soooo sorry,” Chloe laughs with her ears slightly red in embarrassment and lightly punches Max’s arm, “I swear on my honor, I will make it up to you, milady.”

“Hmmmm,” Max ponders for a moment, tapping her finger against her chin, “Forgiven.”

“Anyway,” Kate interrupts them, “Katherine is going to come from behind and scuttle up over Elamon’s back and attack with her dagger.”

“Roll for acrobatics,” Steph says, smiling at the girl, watching as the girl rolls a 16. “Katherine the Great scuttles her way up the back of Elamon and jumps from his shoulder to attack the Zombie. Roll for dexterity.”

Kate rolls and gets 14, Steph tells her that it hits and asks her to roll for damage with a sneak attack which ends up being 9 total hit points.

“Katherine comes flying down upon the zombie and the dagger impales it in the top of the head. It screeches in pain, waving its arm in anger, “Steph groans in faked pain, “Now it is the zombie’s turn to attack. It is going to attack Katherine.”

Steph and Kate pull out their D20’s, each of them rolling for the attack. Kate sighs as it lands on a 6 and watches as the dungeon master also rolls for damage.

“Damn,” She states dejectedly, “Hope it’s not too bad of a hit.”

“8 Damage,” Steph says, looking up at Kate with a gleeful grin, “The zombie, in its anger, slashes out a gnarled, nasty hand and scratches down Katherine’s face with sharp, splintered nails. She can feel the blood begin oozing from the scratches and dripping down onto her shirt.”

The excitable beanie wearing girl runs a hand down her face, using her fingers to imitate the blood streaming from the cuts.

“Hil’leigh, what would you like to do,” Steph asks.

“Hil’leigh is going to use her longsword again,” Max says, throwing her dice on the table. “14?”

“That’s a hit,” Steph says, “Roll for damage.”

The team watches with bated breath as the girl rolls her d8, hoping for a high number since she has a +5 modifier. It lands on a one, and Max releases a disappointed sigh.

“Hil’leigh slashes her sword towards the zombie, hoping to cut off its head. The zombie, sensing the danger that it’s in, sways out of the way, catching damage on the arm. She watches as the arm falls to the ground and the zombie whirls its head toward her with an angry snarl,” Steph narrates and begins growling like the zombie and baring her teeth. “You’re up, Elamon.”

“Fireball,” Mikey shouts, grabbing his d20 and throwing it down into his tray. “A six?”

“Elamon begins building up his power to try and ash the other zombie,” Steph states clearly, before releasing a giggle, “unfortunately for him, he loses his concentration and his ball of fire shoots off harmlessly to the corner of the room with a loud _whoosh_. The zombie is briefly startled by the flash of light and glances away before looking back at Elamon and snapping its teeth. Callamastia, what would you like to do?”

“I’m gonna use my battle axe again,” Chloe says and crosses the index and middle finger on her left hand, while rolling with her right. “Phew! 17, I don’t think I’ll whack Max again with that!”

“Roll for damage,” Steph says while Max releases a giggle. Chloe pumps her fists in excitement as she realizes she does 12 damage and shares a high five with Max next to her and a fist bump with Kate.

“Callamastia raises her axe over her head and slams it down on the zombie’s head,” Steph says, releasing a grunt, and whine while blinking her eyes slowly, “The zombie blinks at you dumbly 3 times before it splits down the middle like a hotdog bun.”

The party laughs and cheers as the girl finishes narrating the encounter. The next few hours passed much the same way, with groans, laughs, shouts and animated discussion. Max had never felt so comfortable in a group of people. Everyone was being so nice to her, and no one had made fun of her. She thought they might actually LIKE her. They were nearing the end of another encounter when the doorbell rang. They could hear Sheri shouting that she had it and her footsteps echoing towards the front door.

Sheri walked to the front door and opened it to see a young, black male standing there. She recognized that he was Mikey’s brother and gave him a welcoming smile.

“Hi there,” She stated exuberantly, “You’re Mikey’s brother, right?”

“Yeah, Drew,” the boy said holding his hand out to shake hers, “Mikey forgot his inhaler, so dad and I thought we should drop it off in case he had an asthma attack in the middle of the night.”

“Oh,” Sheri exclaimed, “Good thing he’s got his older brother looking out for him. I was just about to call the kids for dinner. Would you and your dad like to join us? We have plenty to go around!”

“Uh, I’ll ask him,” Drew said, looking back towards the car. At Sheri’s nod, he ran back and had a brief conversation with his father through the window. Sheri could see the man’s eyes widen slightly and a smile spread across his face as he nodded, rolled up the window, and turned off the car before stepping out to walk back up the path with Drew, who took it upon himself to introduce the man, “This is my dad, Anthony North.”

“Sheri Tilton,” the shorter woman introduced herself before shaking the man’s hand, “It’s so nice to meet you. Mikey has been a great friend to Chloe. I hope you like Italian Beef.”

“Likewise,” The man said as they separated hands, “I’ve heard a lot about his friends. It’ll be nice to finally put the faces with the names. I’m not a picky eater, so I’m sure I’ll be fine. Thanks for the invite.”

“It’s our pleasure to have you,” Sheri responded, smiling, and taking a step back from the door and motioning with her hand for them to follow her, “Come on in!”

The father and son entered the house and raised their eyes when they saw the inside of the house. You could tell from the outside that it was a nice house, but seeing the inside showed just how much difference there was in their incomes. Anthony had always thought people with money would be snooty and look down on him, but the woman had seemed truly kind. They followed the woman to a doorway where they could hear the voices of the kids shouting in excitement. They looked in the door and saw the four girls and Mikey around the table, smiling as they saw the youngest of them eagerly doing a victory dance while all the girls giggled at him.

“Hey, nerds,” Drew said as he walked into the room and gave them a smirk.

“Drew? Dad,” Mikey questioned, stopping his victory dance and looking at them in surprise, “What are you doing here? Is something wrong?”

“Nothing wrong,” Anthony told him, while Drew lifted up the blue inhaler, “Drew found your inhaler on the coffee table, so we thought we would drop it off in case you needed it. Mrs. Tilton invited us to stay for dinner.”

“Oh, that’s a relief,” The bespectacled boy said, releasing a relieved sigh, “I’ll introduce you to my friends, I guess. You’ve met Steph, but this is Chloe, Kate, and our new friend, Max.”

The girls all gave a wave as they were introduced, Chloe bouncing up and shaking the family’s hands. No one noticed when the girl’s gaze went distant for a few seconds after shaking Anthony’s hand.

“Dinners ready, if you kids are at a possible stopping point,” Sheri said from the doorway, a warm smile on her face as she saw how easily Chloe interacted with people. “I made Italian beef, fries, and a salad.”

“Yes,” Chloe shouted excitedly after a brief shake of her head as if she were shaking out of a stupor, “That’s one of my favorites!”

“Is it,” Sheri joked with a laugh, “I had no idea!”

Everyone made their way into the kitchen, Chloe practically running as she grabbed a plate for her favorite meal. The girl grabbed a hoagie bun and dipped the serving spoon into the beef before lumping it on her bun and adding a large amount of mozzarella. She grabbed a few fries and some of the salad before making her way over to the kitchen island and setting her plate down to wait for her friends. She saw that Max’s parents were there as well and smiled, glad that her family seemed to be getting along with the younger girls. She gave the man standing at the back of the line a considering look before sighing and making her way over to him.

“Uh, Anthony,” She asked to grab his attention, “This is probably going to sound way out of left field, but you should quit working at the shipyard. In a couple of years, the Prescott’s are going to liquidate the company and lay everyone off.”

“What,” The man questioned, confusion lacing his voice, “What makes you think that?”

“This probably sounds crazy to you, but I get visions sometimes,” Chloe said, shuffling her feet awkwardly. “I saw a vision of you laid off and Mikey living in the dorm rooms with Drew. I also saw a vision of you working in the hospital. You should apply when they’re hiring. Pops will put in a good word for you. You’ll love that job and meet your soulmate. Plus, they have great benefits.”

“I can’t decide if you’re joking or not,” The man said, giving her a strange look as Kate walked up behind her.

“She’s serious,” The girl said, giving the man a sincere look, “she saw a vision of my parents divorcing months before it happened, and saved a girl at my old church from her creepy uncle.”

“I’ll… take that into consideration,” The man said with a strange look upon his face.

The friends and Drew made their way back into the dining room to dig into their dinner while the adults sat at the dining table in the kitchen. Chloe took a bite of the sandwich and groaned in pleasure, the spicy tang hitting the back of her tongue and a pepperoncini pepper blasting flavor on her tongue.

“Damn,” Drew exclaimed after taking his first bite, “That’s delicious.”

“Mmhmm,” Chloe mumbled with her mouth closed to keep the food inside. The friends continued eating their meals in silence. Drew scarfed his down quickly and eyed the doorway, clearly trying to decide if he wanted to go back for a second sandwich. After dinner, the friends trooped their way back into the kitchen to drop off their plates. The parents were sitting at the table with a few decks of cards and appeared to be playing Euchre. Drew groaned a bit as he realized he was going to be at the house for a while, and his options for hanging out were either the kids or their parents. He ended up going back with the younger people, observing them playing the game. He didn’t expect for the game to draw him in as much as it had. He eventually ended up asking to join in the game ‘because there’s nothing else to do,’ and was given a character by Steph, who had his character meet them as a prisoner in the dungeon. He wound up really enjoying himself and thought he might like to start joining in regularly.

It was a few hours later when Anthony stepped into the room and asked him if he was ready to go. They had played through a few encounters and were at a good point for a long rest, so they decided to stop for the night so Drew could join them at the same spot next time. The father and son left, leaving Mikey behind to stay the night in the guest room. After Max asked her parents if they would be okay with her staying the night, the friends ended up in the living room watching Blade Runner and chomping down on popcorn before deciding to call it a night. Mikey separated from the girls at the top of the stairs, heading towards the guest bedroom on the left, while the girls made their way into Chloe’s room.

“Okay, two of us can lay on the futon and two of us can sleep in the bed,” Chloe told them as she folded the futon out to a full-size bed. “Dibs on the bed!”

“I’m fine with the futon,” Kate said as she pulled out a pair of pajamas and her toothbrush, sending a wink over her shoulder to Chloe after a quick glance at Max. Chloe thought that Kate must have said something to Steph about Max, because the girl quickly chimed in that she would share with the blond.

“Guess that means I’m in with you,” Max said, then smirked, “hope you don’t wet the bed.”

“Well I nevah,” Chloe joked, then giggled, “You can borrow some pj’s if you want. We also have extra toothbrushes.”

“Thanks,” Max told her gratefully. “Dinner was delicious, but I don’t want to breath in your face with beef breath all night.”

Chloe snorted and made her way over to her dresser, pulling out a pair of pajama pants and holding it up to Max’s waist, eyeing the size and nodding. Then she pulled out a t-shirt and passed it over to the girl, showing her into the bathroom where the drawer with extra things were held for her guests. She opened a drawer showing her a package of toothbrushes, and extra deodorants, pads, tampons, and hair ties. The girl nodded and pulled out one of the brushes and started brushing her teeth while Chloe joined her. The two of them walked back out, passing Steph and Kate on their way, and changed into their pajamas. While Max was distracted with changing, Chloe pulled out her phone so she could message Rachel.

**Chloe: Rach**

**Chloe: I’ve LITERALLY met the girl of my dreams**

**Rachel: Wait… the freckled girl?**

**Rachel: Deets!**

**Chloe: She’s my new neighbor… shes AWESOME! She fit right in with my friends. I wish you were here so you could have hung out with us**

**Rachel: I’m glad you finally figured out who she was. I wish I was there, too. I know we wanted to leave Arcadia, but no one in Cali compares to my bestie**

**Chloe: I hope we see each other soon… It would be nice to be able to give you a real hug, instead of our cyber hugs. *hugs***

**Rachel: Well… I do graduate 8 th grade this year.**

**Chloe: Duh! I used to be in your grade, I know that doofus! Lmao**

**Rachel: I applied for Blackwell… and even if I don’t get in, I’ll be a freshman at Arcadia Bay High……..**

“What,” Chloe shouted, causing the other three girls in the room to jump and look at her. She was immediately dialing the number, happy tears glistening in her eyes. Rachel answered on the first ring, and hadn’t even finished saying “hey dorkmo” before Chloe was cutting her off, “Are you serious? Please tell me you’re not just fucking with me.”

“I’m serious,” Rachel giggled, “I was going to surprise you, but I couldn’t hold it in anymore. Dad got offered a job back in Arcadia… he’s going to be the DA. We’re moving back in June.”

“I’m literally so excited right now,” Chloe shouted, the tears finally overflowing in her eyes. “All my friends will finally be in the same state!”

“I know! I can’t wait to see you and meet your new friends,” Rachel cheered, voice filled with emotion. “I’ve missed you so much.”

Chloe could hear a knock come from the other side of the line, and James telling Rachel it was past her bedtime, and to hang up. The two of them said their goodbyes and goodnights and ended the call. Chloe looked up at her friends with happiness shining in her eyes.

“I can’t wait for you guys to meet Rachel,” Chloe said, bouncing in the bed in excitement, “We’ll all be best friends forever!”

“This is so exciting,” Steph said, “Do you think she’ll play D&D with us?”

“I can persuade her,” Chloe told the girl with a grin. “We should probably go to bed, though. It’s getting late.”

The girls all got under their covers, and Chloe turned off the lights before climbing in beside Max.

“Chloe,” Max whispered from beside her, causing Chloe to squint in the dark to see the girls face, “Thank you so much for inviting me to play with you. It’s nice to finally feel like I belong somewhere.”

“There will always be a place for you with my friends,” Chloe told her with a large smile, “I told you my friends would love you!”

“You’re awesome, Max,” Kate chimed from across the room, and Steph mumbled her agreement. Chloe could see the girls face light up in a grin so bright she thought it could light up the room. “Night girls!”

“Night,” They all said to one another, before settling into their beds and going to sleep. The last thing Chloe saw as her eyes slid shut was Max’s peaceful face on the pillow next to hers. _She’s definitely where she belongs._

End of chapter note: I actually do have a pretty kickass recipe for Italian Beef. I’ve posted it below if anyone wants to try it. It is a _little_ bit spicy, but I don’t think too bad.

** Italian Beef – Medium heat **

  * 3-4 pounds beef chuck roast
  * 1 large red onion _sliced_
  * 5 cloves garlic _minced_
  * 15-20 pepperoncini’s _mild or hot_
  * 4 tablespoons butter
  * 1/2 cup red wine
  * 1/4 cup Worcestershire Sauce
  * ¼ cup soy sauce
  * 3 tablespoons brown sugar
  * 1 tablespoon dried Italian seasoning (1 package dry Italian dressing)
  * 1/4-1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
  * Hoagie rolls
  * Shredded Mozzarella



Instructions

Place the beef roast at the bottom of the crockpot. Place all other ingredients on top of the roast. Cover the crock pot and set on high for 4-6 hours, or on low from 8-10 hours

Once the beef is tender and falling apart, use two forks (or whatever you would prefer to use) to shred the meat in the juices.

Serve on a hoagie bun, with mozzarella


	6. Chapter 6

The Foster

Miss Magillicuddy

Chloe ambled across her yard, walking with a bounce in her step towards Max’s front door. In her left hand, she had the leash for Maverick, her right was holding tightly on Wilson’s. She lifted her hand and pressed the doorbell, smiling widely as it opened to reveal Vanessa. She really liked the woman. She had stayed over a couple of times since becoming friends with her daughter. They had become inseparable pretty quickly. She, Max, and Kate spent a lot of time together. The two shorter girls had become fast friends, and over the weekends they would spend time at each other’s houses.

“Hey, Mrs. C! Is Max home,” Chloe asked the grinning woman.

“Hey Chloe. How are you today,” Vanessa asked, before turning to look in the direction of her kitchen, “Maxine! Chloe’s at the door for you!”

Chloe could hear a dining chair scrape across the floor, and footsteps rushing towards the door. Max came bounding around the corner with a face splitting grin. She heard Vanessa give an amused snort as the girl barreled into Chloe, shouting her name, and pulling her into a tight hug.

“You act as if you didn’t just see her at school,” Vanessa said, giving the girl an amused look. “You girls are so silly.”

“We only have 4 classes and lunch together,” Max said, withdrawing from Chloe’s hug and giving her mom a put-upon look.

“Wow,” Vanessa said sarcastically, placing a hand over her chests in an imitation of shock, “ _Only_ four classes and lunch! How ever do you manage to handle only seeing her 5 hours per school day? Let’s not forget that Sheri takes you two to and from school.”

“It’s rough,” Max deadpanned, looking back to Chloe who was looking between the two of them in amusement. “If only we had all our classes together.”

“You’ll live,” Vanessa laughed and gave a wink to Chloe before turning back to head back in to finish the load of laundry she had been folding.

“What are you up to,” Chloe asked the freckled girl, “do you wanna come with me to walk the dogs?”

“Heck yes! I’ve been working on the science homework, and it’s kicking my a- butt,” Max said, glancing towards the living room where her mom was folding a pair of Ryan’s boxers to see if the woman had heard her almost slip. The woman gave her a pointed look, and Chloe could see the girl’s ears turn red in embarrassment. “Mom, can I go for a walk with Chloe?”

“You can, but you _need_ to finish your homework when you get back,” Vanessa told her.

“Mom,” Max whined lightly, “It’s Friday night, and I have all weekend! Can’t I work on it tomorrow?”

“If you want to keep whining,” Vanessa said, voice becoming a little sterner, “you can skip the walk and go right back to your homework. Your choice.”

“After we walk the dogs, I can help you with your science homework, if you want,” Chloe interrupted before Max could complain any further, “I’ve already finished it, but I could bring over my other assignments.”

“Okay,” Max grumbled, reaching out a hand to grab Maverick’s leash, and kneeling to rub at his ears. “Hi Mavvy! Did you miss me?”

The husky gave a light awoo and licked the girl’s nose. Max giggled and turned her face away to avoid more of the dog’s slobber. Chloe felt her stomach flip at the sight. Over the past month, her crush on the girl had been growing. She would catch herself watching the girl whenever they were in a room together. She sat behind her in history and would spend the class period staring at the back of the girl’s neck, looking for designs in her freckles. The two of them headed off on their walk, jokes and conversation passing between them like they had been friends since birth.

“No way! Michael Keaton was the best Batman,” Chloe said, turning to look at the shorter girl in mock horror. “Christian Bale was good, don’t get me wrong, but… come on. I’m Batman.”

“Really,” Max questioned, “All this time I thought you were called Chloe. Why did you wait so long to correct me?”

“Ha…Ha,” Chloe said, giving her a dry look and nudging the girls shoulder with her own, “you’re so punny.”

“Thanks,” Max said with a cheeky grin, “That’s the sweetest thing anyone’s ever said to me!”

“Dork,” Chloe snorted, rolling her eyes.

“That’s why you love me,” Max joked, then giggled, completely missing Chloe flushing red briefly.

“Yeah, yeah,” Chloe huffed, “Don’t pretend you don’t love me, too!”

“I do,” Max said, giving her a sincere look, “You’re the best friend I’ve ever had. I’m so grateful I moved here. It’s so nice to finally belong somewhere and to have friends… even if they’re nerds like you.”

“I’m a _proud_ nerd,” Chloe chortled, “What does it say about you if all your friends are nerds?”

“I guess that I’m charitable,” Max quipped, “hanging out with people of a lower social circle.”

“Yeah,” Chloe sarcastically agreed, “I’m sure it doesn’t say that you’re a nerd at all.”

The two girls rounded the corner back to their street and headed for Chloe’s house. She pulled out her key, and slid it into the lock, walking into the entryway and bending to take off the dog’s leashes. They bolted off towards the kitchen, and Chloe could hear the sound of sloshing water as they rehydrated. She followed them into the kitchen and refilled the water bowls and placed a scoop of food in each of their bowls. The girls headed up to Chloe’s room to grab her bookbag, passing Sheri on the way who was agreeable to Chloe helping the other girl. The two of them hurried from her room and next door. Chloe took a few minutes to unpack her bag, pulling out her homework planner, which was supplied by the school, and her books. After she finished organizing her stuff, she moved her eyes up to look at Max. The girl quickly averted her gaze, ears turning red in embarrassment. Chloe raised her eyebrow and shrugged.

“so,” She said conversationally, “Which part of the science were you having problems with?”

“The science,” Max said, slouching grumpily in her seat, “it just doesn’t want to click. I feel so stupid.”

“You’re not stupid,” Chloe said, glaring at the girl lightly, “I don’t like it when people talk bad about my friends. Apologize to yourself!”

“I’m sorry, me,” Max said, rolling her eyes lightly as Chloe was already standing to come around the table and sit next to her. “It just… it feels like no one else is struggling with it.”

“They are,” Chloe told her, resting a hand against her shoulder. “Science isn’t easy for everyone, trust me. I helped Kate with it a lot when we lived together. I’m here to help… anytime you need it.”

“Thanks, Che,” Max responded, glancing at her gratefully. “Sorry… I mean, Chloe.”

“You can call me Che,” Chloe stated, smiling, “I like it. My dad would call me that every once in a while, so it reminds me of him.”

“What was he like,” Max asked, giving her a sad look. “I bet he was great if he was anything like you.”

“He was amazing,” Chloe said, fading off for a moment in remembrance, “Both of them were. Dad was really goofy. Rach and I went through this faze when we were little where we wanted to be Pirate Princesses… mostly because I was into pirates and she was into princesses. Dad would put on an eyepatch and pretend to be one of our crew, but he would serve us ‘tea’ like we were princesses. He swore like a sailor. I remember he had a swear jar that we were going to use to go to Paris. Unfortunately, we never got the chance.”

“Sorry,” Max apologized softly, “I shouldn’t have brought it up.”

“No,” Chloe argued, “It’s nice to talk about him. My mom was so opposite from him. She was the disciplinarian of the two of them… yet she wasn’t hard. She was kind and loving, and an _amazing_ cook. She worked at the Two Whales Diner and had dreams of opening her own restaurant. She made the best waffles, and I got my recipe for pancakes from her. They would have loved you.”

“They sound awesome,” Max smiled, “and those pancakes are the yummiest pancakes I’ve ever had. My parents make them with a dry pancake mix where you just add milk. They’re pretty sad.”

“Well, _excuse_ me Miss Food Critic,” Vanessa teased as she entered the kitchen to start dinner. “Chloe, would you like to stay for dinner?”

“Yes, please,” Chloe told her with a grin. The blond reached out to pull Max’s science book towards them and leaned in a bit closer to her. _Her hair smells fruity. “_ Now, let’s see if I can explain this better for you.”

Chloe started explaining the science homework, using more general terms than what the teacher had used in their class that morning. She was pointing out different things in the book, and explaining the whys to Max. Max was asking her to repeat some information that she was struggling with, and Chloe was happily explaining it again until the girl started to catch on.

“Why didn’t Mrs. Zaiser just say that in class,” Max asked in frustration. “It would have made the homework so much easier if she explained it like that.”

“Teacher’s live to confuse,” Chloe joked, “plus, I think they forget not everyone has gone to college for four years.”

“You should be a teacher,” Vanessa said, turning from the stove to look at her. “I think you’d be great at it. You’re understanding and good at explaining things.”

“I hadn’t thought of that before, but we’ll see,” Chloe stated thoughtfully, “I’ve still got some time before I have to decide. It seems like you’ve got the hang of it, but if you want me to check it over when you’re done, I will.”

“Okay, thanks,” Max said as Chloe stood up to walk back around the table and start on her English homework.

The two girls sat there together working on their homework until dinner. They moved their stuff off to the side while the family and Chloe sat down to eat together. She found herself blushing when both Max and Vanessa started gushing to Ryan about how helpful and smart Chloe was. She was stuttering out that she wasn’t that impressive, but the man had agreed when Max told him that she was able to finish her science homework in less than an hour. After the meal cleanup, the girls spread their books back out on the table and started working on their homework assignments again. They wound up working on a couple of them together and were checking to see what they each got for different questions. An hour later, her phone rang. She looked at the screen and saw Kate flashing across the screen.

“Hola, Katie my Matey,” Chloe rhymed as she answered the phone, “You’re on speaker phone, just so you know. Max and I are studying.”

“Hey Kate,” Max chimed in across the table, a smile lighting up her face.

“Heya,” Kate said, a subdued tone in her voice. “I just got home from a supervised visit with _Karen_. You’ll never guess what she told us.”

“That she’s an awful person that ruined the best thing that ever happened to her,” Chloe asked sarcastically.

“As if she would ever admit to any wrong doing,” Kate snorted. “and if you knew this and didn’t tell me, I’m gonna come over there to whack you over the head. She’s having a baby with Pastor Skip.”

“Seriously,” Chloe asked, eyes widening, “I thought they broke up when his wife found out about them. I haven’t seen her since the court date, so I definitely didn’t have any visions of her.”

“They said they did break up,” Kate snarked, “but I guess it didn’t take. This poor kid is gonna be the most intolerant person ever with them as parents.”

“Eh,” Chloe said offhandedly, “you were her child, and you turned out awesome.”

“Yeah, but I had dad to steer me in the right direction,” Kate clarified. “We’re talking about a set of parents where one of them kicked us out of church for our _wrong views on Christianity,_ and another who thinks that people who are… hurt… somehow brought it on themselves.”

“Yeah,” Chloe winced, remembering the woman’s harsh ideals, “I guess I didn’t think about that. Are you okay?”

“I guess,” Kate divulged, “I just don’t know how to feel. This woman made my life pretty unbearable at times.”

“I’m sorry,” Max uttered across the table, “I’ve never met her, but she sounds pretty horrible from what you’ve said.”

“She is,” Kate agreed, “I wish I didn’t have to see her. In my eyes, she isn’t my mother. Once I’m old enough, I plan to cut all ties with her. At dinner, she was complaining loudly about a cute lesbian couple sitting nearby. They were celebrating the fact that they were adopting a baby and my mom started arguing with them about how a child needs to see a healthy heterosexual relationship to grow up properly, and that they’re quote, going to turn the baby gay, end quote. Seriously, bitch? I so badly wanted to ask what a baby growing up with adulterous, judgmental parents would turn out as but decided to keep my mouth shut.”

“Probably for the best,” Chloe agreed, “She never would have shut up. You’d probably still be there listening to her rant at you.”

“Yeah,” Kate said softly, “I really wanted to say that my best friend was a lesbian and that I hope she and whoever she winds up with gets the chance to adopt. You would make a way better parent than her. I chickened out, though. What if she found some way to forbid me from hanging out with you?”

“I wouldn’t have minded,” Chloe told her gently, “it’s not like I try hiding it or anything, but if anyone was gonna make a big deal out of it, she would.”

“You’re a lesbian,” Max asked, giving her a surprised look over the table, “I didn’t know that.”

“Yeah,” Chloe said, shifting awkwardly in her seat, “I thought you knew. That doesn’t bother you, does it?”

“No way,” Max practically shouted before quieting to a whisper, “Uncle Rhys, dads twin brother, is gay. I was always raised to never judge anyone for anything!”

“I guess it’s time for me to admit it,” Kate teased, “I’m soooo straight. I like people with dangly bits.”

“Ugh, I never want to touch a _dangly bit_ for the rest of my life,” Chloe said with a fake gag. “your mom would probably say Billy realized my sickness and was trying to cure it.”

“Probably,” Kate agreed, “she’s awful that way. Do you think if I call her a bitch and she smacks me again the court will take away visitation?”

“eh, I wouldn’t chance it,” Max said, giving Chloe a curious look. “who’s Billy?”

“Oh, uh,” Chloe paused awkwardly, “He was the foster father I told you about, that hurt my foster sisters and I.”

“Oh, that makes sense,” Max said, realization lighting her face, “I’m sorry. I should have realized.”

“You’re not the psychic,” Chloe said, giving a shrug and half smile, “I never called him by his name in front of you.”

“Well, I’m still sad it happened to you,” Max reiterated, “No one deserves that, but especially not you. You’re such a good person.”

“She really is,” Kate agreed from the phone, letting out a soft sigh. “I’m so glad she came to live with us. She really expanded my horizons. Who knows what kind of world view I would have had if _Karen_ had stayed around forever? I could have ended up just as preachy and judgmental as her.”

“Yeah right,” Chloe disagreed, “You’re a kind and gentle soul, there is no way you would have changed that much.”

“I should let you two get back to your homework,” Kate said, “Sorry to have interrupted, I just wanted to talk to someone about the craziness in my life.”

“You’re not interrupting,” Chloe vowed, “you can call me anytime, day or night. You’re my sister, and I’ll always be there for you. It sounds like you need a girls night. I can ask Ma if you and Max could stay over tomorrow.”

“That sounds perfect,” Kate breathed out, “let me know and I’ll ask Dad.”

“Okie doke,” Chloe chirped, “night sis! Love ya!”

“Love you, too,” Kate responded, “night Max!”

“Night, Kate,” Max said kindly.

After the discussion ended, Chloe opened her texts to send a message to Sheri.

**Chloe: Hey, Ma! Would it be okay for Max and Kate 2 stay over 2morrow? Kate found out her mother is pregnant, and I think she would benefit from a girls nite!**

**Ma: Of course! I know she has a hard time with her mother. You know they’re welcome over any time!**

**Chloe: K. Just wanted 2 make sure. Thanks, Ma! Max and I still have one more assignment each. I can come home after that.**

**Ma: Vanessa actually texted about 3 minutes ago to ask if you could stay over. I assumed you wanted to and told her that was fine with me.**

**Chloe: Oh… she hasn’t said anything. Max said her shows on right now, so she’ll probably pop in afterwards. Night, then. Love u!**

**Ma: Night, sweety girl. Love you, too!**

The two girls grinned at each other as they bounced excitedly in their seats. The two of them started planning what they wanted to do that night, even while Chloe was already texting Kate.

**Chloe: Hey Kate! Ma said u and Max could stay over 2morrow.**

**Kate: Sweet! I asked dad, and he agreed. Girls nite!!!! Xoxo**

**Chloe: C U 2morrow! :D**

As the girls were finishing up with the last of their homework, Vanessa ambled into the kitchen. She paused to press a kiss to the top of the Max’s head before heading back towards the sink to place her empty wine glass in the sink. She turned back to look at the two girls and sent a smile their way.

“Did you want to stay over, Chloe,” She asked the girl, resting her elbows against the counter behind her and leaning back comfortably.

“Sure,” Chloe chirped, writing down her last math problem and throwing her hands up in victory. “Can Max stay over tomorrow? Our friend Kate had a rough day and we wanted to have a girl’s night.”

“How much homework do you have left,” Vanessa asked turning her eyes to look at her daughter.

“I’ve finished almost everything,” Max promised, looking pleadingly into her mother’s eyes. “I only have 3 more problems left in my math homework and I’ll be done.”

“Really,” Vanessa said in surprise, mouth opening lightly in shock, “All of it? Maybe we should ask for Chloe to tutor you.”

“Mom,” Max whined in embarrassment, sharing a look with the blond girl across from her, “you make me sound dumb.”

“You’re not dumb,” Vanessa said vehemently, “but if Chloe can get you to focus on your homework, it may be worth it, no? Plus, weren’t you just complaining earlier that you don’t get to spend enough time with her?”

“I wouldn’t mind,” Chloe cut in, to stop any argument, “It’s actually nice to work on homework with someone again. Kate and I used to work on it together all the time.”

“Okay. If you’re sure,” Max said, giving her a half shrug, “I don’t want to be a bother.”

“You’re not! I promise,” Chloe told her reaching her hand out to grip the freckled hand across from her. Max’s ears went pink at the contact. “want me to check your math and science stuff?”

“…okay,” Max agreed, sliding her science across the table, and finishing up her math as the red slowly faded from her ears.

“You may stay over tomorrow night,” Vanessa agreed, giving her daughter a searching look. Neither of the kids saw the woman’s eyes go wide in enlightenment, and the slight smile that crossed her lips before she crossed back across the kitchen, ruffling the brown hair lightly. “I’m tired, so I’m probably going to make it an early night. Try not to make too much of a mess in the living room. Goodnight, girls!”

“We won’t,” Max stated, sending a light glare at her smirking mother as she smoothed down her hair. “night, mom!”

“g’night Mrs. C,” Chloe said distractedly as she double checked one of Max’s answers with a slightly furrowed brow, “I think you mixed up something here. I’d recheck it.”

“Aw, man,” Max grumbled

Vanessa felt a smile flitter again across her lips as she heard the girl’s chatter from the kitchen. She slowly made her way up the stairs towards her and Ryan’s bedroom, stopping in the bathroom to brush and floss her teeth. She yawned as she made her way through the bedroom door, spotting Ryan sitting up in bed reading a Stephen King novel. After changing into her pajamas, so climbed under the covers, turning to press a kiss against the man’s lips.

“I think our daughter has her first _real_ crush,” Vanessa said, giving an amused snort as Ryan’s book immediately dropped to his lap, and his gaze flew to meet hers, “her celebrity crushes don’t count.”

“Is it that Mikey,” He asked gruffly, “Should I start puffing up my chest around him and mentioning all the nice shovels there are for digging holes for bodies?”

“No,” Vanessa said, a bubble of laughter bursting from her chest, “I’m fairly certain she has a crush on Chloe. I noticed that she blushes around her a lot, and she _really_ cares what Chloe thinks of her.”

“Oh,” Ryan said, wind leaving his sails, “Damn, I can’t give the shovel speech to her. I like her too much. Plus, Chloe can’t get Max pregnant.”

“Ain’t that the truth,” Vanessa joked, “and just because Max has a crush, doesn’t mean Chloe does. It’s pretty rare that anyone ends up with their first crush.”

“I did,” Ryan said, giving her a pointed look, “We Caulfield’s are true romantics.”

“uh-huh,” Vanessa joked, “That’s why you wait until I’m in the car with you to release your farts.”

“Just my way of showing affection,” Ryan teased, bopping her nose.

“Well,” Vanessa said consideringly, “I certainly hope she doesn’t get that from you. It could send Chloe running for the hills.”

“mmm, you didn’t,” He replied, sending her a heated look and leaning in to press their lips together before turning the lights off and resting his books on the nightstand. Vanessa leaned into him, gasping in pleasure. She had planned on going to sleep, but she supposed she could wait a bit.

Downstairs the two best friends packed up all of their assignments and grabbed a bag of chips before heading into the living room to watch a movie. Max flipped on the tv and walked over to the bookcase holding all of their DVD’s.

“What are you in the mood for,” Max asked, looking back at her friend before turning towards the movies. Chloe stood to join her, standing close by as they eyed the movies.

“What’s Grind,” Chloe asked, reaching her hand out to pull the movie towards her, eyes widening excitedly as she saw it was about skateboarding. “ooooh. I used to love skateboarding… I should take that up again.”

“I haven’t seen that one,” Max said, moving closer to read the back of it as Chloe flipped it over. “I think it’s one of Pop’s movies. We should watch it. I always wished I could skateboard, but I’m too chickenshit.”

“I could try to teach you,” Chloe said uncertainly, “if you wanted.”

“Okay,” Max agreed, “That would be fun!”

“Cool! I’ve been saving my allowance, maybe Ma would take us to get boards tomorrow,” Chloe said, popping open the box and pulling out the DVD to slide into the player. The two girls hurried back to the couch and settled in close together as the Warner Bros. logo slid across the screen. Chloe’s eyes lighting up as the sound of skateboards started grinding in the opening credits. The two of them were quickly engrossed in the movie, laughing along as the four main characters started following the Jimmy Wilson tour to try and get discovered. As the gag reel played in the credits, Max released a large yawn.

“I’m tired, you ready for bed,” Max asked, nudging at Chloe who was nodding off, “Guess so.”

“Yeah,” Chloe said, yawing before standing and stretching her back. The two of them headed up towards Max’s room, both of them constantly yawing. Max grabbed a pair of shorts and a tank top, handing them to Chloe, who quickly changed when Max did. The two of them hurried to the bathroom to take care of their nightly ablutions. They headed back into Max’s room and climbed into her bed. Chloe was asleep before her head fully hit the pillow.

The next morning at breakfast the best friends updated Max’s parents on their plans for the day. Ryan was glad to hear that his daughter was finally breaking out of her comfort zone and happily pulled out his wallet to give her money to get her own board, helmet, and elbow and knee pads. The brunette hurried from the room and slid the money into her purse before heading back in to finish her bowl of cereal. 

Around 10:30 the two of them raced off towards Chloe’s house, to meet up with Kate who was exiting Gabriel’s care. The man waved them over to say hi and ask them what the plans were for the day.

“Hey girls,” The man yelled out his car window. “How are you doing today?”

“Good,” The two of them chimed, giving hugs to Kate as she made her way around to them.

“What do you plan on doing today,” the man asked kindly, grinning at them.

“We’re gonna go get skateboards and Chloe’s gonna teach me to skate,” Max stated, “Hopefully I won’t die.”

“I’m a good teacher,” Chloe promised, “We’ll take it slow. I taught Rachel when we were kids, and she’s really good, now.”

“Can I learn, too,” Kate asked, looking pleadingly at the blond man, who released a deep sigh.

“You can, but be careful,” Gabriel agreed, pulling out his wallet and passing her one of his credit cards. “We don’t want you to break any bones. Go ahead and charge it to that, okay?”

“Okay. I’ll be careful,” Kate said, vibrating in excitement.

“Mmhmmm,” the man agreed skeptically, “have a good time, girls!”

The man waved as the girls raced towards the house, turning on his blinker and gently pulling away from the curb. Chloe, Kate, and Max ran up the stairs to put their stuff in Chloe’s room before running back down to the living room. Sheri looked up as they entered, cheerily greeting the girls as they entered the room.

“Hey, kiddos,” Sheri said, smiling as she flipped off the tv, and slowly stood to her feet. “Are you ready go to the shop?”

“Yup,” Chloe chirped, “If you’re ready, that is.”

After Sheri’s nod, the group made their way out to the garage to climb into the woman’s Cayenne, and made their way to On Deck, the local skate shop. The girls ran in excitedly, rushing over to the wall loaded with decks browsing intently for something that artistically matched their styles. Chloe found one with blue butterflies, Max felt like she was magnetized to one that had a doe and a lighthouse on it, and Kate found one that was covered in cartoon bunnies in a rainbow of colors. After picking out their decks, the girls made their way over to a wall that had knee pads, elbow pads, and helmets, each picking out a black set. Before making their way over to the checkout counter to look at truck and wheel sets, Chloe stopped to eye a pair of black etnies with hot pink soles. She considered for a moment, trying to figure her total in her head, deciding she could swing it, she grabbed a pair and added them to her arms and hastily headed for the counter at the front. After picking out their grip tape, trucks, and wheels. The shop assistant began checking them out, but when the Kate and Max pulled out their money, Sheri waved them away, pulling out her own card to pay for the purchase.

“Did you girls each want to get a pair of shoes, too,” Sheri asked, spotting the pair that Chloe had picked out.

“Mrs. Tilton,” Kate said softly, “I can’t ask for you to pay for me. Dad gave me his card.”

“Yeah,” Max agreed, “My parents gave me money for this, too.”

“I insist,” Sheri said, shooing the girls towards the shoe wall, “I know I don’t have to, but I want to.”

The two girls agreed and headed for the wall of shoes, Max picking out a pair of checkerboard vans and Kate picking out a pair of teal etnies. They rushed back up to the counter and checked out. The shop assistant helped the girls get their boards set up before they left. They were bouncing excitedly as they headed towards the car a little bit later and climbed in to head to the skate park. When they got there, Chloe was surprised how empty it was. Other than them, there were only two other people, a blond and brunette boy that appeared to be around their age. Sheri had told them to be careful and to call her when they were ready to come home, or if anyone hurt themselves.

The girls raced off to the center of the park, which had a large flat area. They put on their helmets and pads and Chloe started trying to instruct them. She spent the first few minutes trying to help them figure out which of their feet was their front foot, eventually having them come at a run towards their board to see which foot they instinctively raised to put on it. After that, the three girls just went around on their boards, the other two getting used to the feeling of the movements and figuring out the most comfortable way to transition from the pushing position with their front foot facing forward, to their riding position with both feet sideways along the board.

When the two girls were comfortable with the motions, Chloe started showing them how to turn. She first showed them how to just lean into the movements with a carving turn. Once they had that down, she showed them that you could also kick turn, by lifting their front two wheels off the ground and forcing the board in the new direction they wanted to go by moving their torsos and arms. After a while of teach them how to stop, how to do a dropping start, and how to stop. While the other two got used to moving around on their boards, Chloe decided to play a little bit with hers. She took a running start and jumped on her board, weaving her way towards a rail and doing an ollie to lift her board up to do a 50/50 across a rail. As she landed the trick she did a couple of pushes before going into a 360 kickflip.

“Still got it,” She muttered to herself as she moved back towards her friends. She turned her head to see the two boys cheering and clapping, as they hopped on their boards and headed towards them. The two of them had large grins on their face as they reached them.

“Yo,” The blond said, “That was sick!”

“How long have you been skating,” The other asked, moving his hand up for a fist bump.

“Thanks,” Chloe laughed, “Uh, I think my biological father started teaching me when I was 7. He really loved it. This was my first time riding in the last 3 years, though.”

“Nice,” the brunette said, “I started learning 2 years ago. I’m Trevor, by the way… and this is Justin.”

“Yo,” the blond said, shooting his fingers at the three girls. “It’s good to see more people out here. Are you two just learning?”

“Yeah. I’m Kate, by the way,” Kate answered, smiling at the male duo, “Karen would flip shit if she knew I was out here. That makes me happy inside.”

“I’m Max,” The freckled girl said with a shy wave.

“Who is Karen,” Trevor asked after waving hello to the two girls, then looking back towards Chloe. “I’m guessing it’s not you.”

“Nope,” Chloe laughed, “I’m Chloe.”

“Karen’s my… mother,” Kate said, rolling her eyes, “I hesitate to call her that, though. She’s a super judgmental person, and lost custody of my sisters and I after she smacked me in the face.”

“Damn,” Justin said, eyebrows reaching up to his eyebrows in surprise. “what a bitch!”

“You’re telling me,” Kate joked, “if I could get her out of my life permanently, I would. It would be great to never have to see her again. She’s toxic.”

“That sucks,” Trevor said, a slight frown on his face, “I understand, though. When I was 10, my dad decided that he wasn’t suited for family life. He left a note telling us that. One day he was there, the next he was gone.”

“I’m sorry,” Max said, looking at the boy sadly.

“It’s okay,” he responded, “It was a while ago. I barely think of him anymore. I was always closer with my mom, anyway.”

“I don’t know who my biological father was,” Justin stated, “but my dad adopted me when I was 3. He took responsibility for me, and is raising me like I was his natural son.”

The two boys joined in, sharing their knowledge of skateboarding with the other two girls. The three more experienced skaters were trying to help the two noobs learn how to Ollie, so that they could jump curbs if needed while they were just getting used to skating around. At one point the two newer girls took a seat to watch while the other three started playing on the half pipe. Max had pulled out her camera, snapping shots as her eye caught them. They were watching Chloe do a nose slide, then go back across to the other side and do a move where here back wheels held on to the edge of the ramp, and popped back in, which Justin excitedly called a blunt fakie while cheering for the girl. It was around 3:30 when the girls finally contacted Sheri to come and get them. They exchanged numbers with the boys so they could meet up again sometime. Kate was surprised to find out Trevor lived two streets over from her, while Justin was about a 10 minute walk. The girls were excitedly talking Sheri’s ears off on the way to the video store. They each picked out a movie to watch, Chloe picking out One Missed Call, Max picking out Transformers, and Kate picking out Untraceable.

When they got home, they made some popcorn, grabbed some sodas and headed up for Chloe’s room They settled in on her futon with Chloe sitting in the middle and holding the bowl of popcorn while the other two sat on either side of her. The 3 of them spent the time during the movies mostly quiet and chomping down on the popcorn. After they finished the movies, they decided to play Hide n’ Seek. The rules were that you had to play in the dark, and that Sheri and Dean’s room were off limits, since they had already laid down for the night. Max had ended up hiding in a spot that took Chloe 45 minutes of searching to find her. The girl was so tiny that she was able to set herself up in between a bookshelf and a little bench next to it. Her legs were under the bench, and her back was against the bookshelf. Someone had set a jacket on the edge of the bench, and she just pulled it over her back to camouflage herself in. Even when Chloe had found her, it had only been because the girl had gotten bored and started humming the ringtone from the movie they had watched earlier, causing the taller girl to yelp and turn to look.

Chloe had felt slighted when Kate was it, and Maverick led the girl right to her and pouted at the dog for twenty minutes while the other two girls laughed at her misfortune. The dog in question didn’t seem to see the problem, as his tale was wagging, and his tongue was happily slopped out of his mouth. He sent a slight whine to Chloe, begging for her to give him pets, which she did after sighing. The three girls were up until almost 1 when they got too tired to stay awake.

Chloe did keep her word and took up doing her homework everyday with Max for the final 2 weeks of school. The two girls also spent their time studying for the tests, which found Max getting her highest grades in her school years. Chloe told her that she planned to help her the next year, too. She told Max and Kate that they should apply to Blackwell for their Freshman year. Max’s parents were so pleased with her grades, and wholeheartedly agreed that Blackwell would look really good on college applications.

Over the last to weeks of school, Chloe and Max had spent a lot of time getting Max used to cruising on her skateboard. The two girls would go out every day after school. Chloe had been unsurprised to hear from Kate that she had been practicing with Trevor and Justin. The five of them would meet up at the skate park when they could. They had met up one Thursday after school, and two Saturdays after they had first met there. The Saturday following their meeting had been their bi-weekly DnD campaign. Chloe was glad that summer was here, because that would mean she would have more time to spend with her family and friends. Along with her excitement for summer was her excitement for Rachel’s imminent return. She had already asked her mom if she could have a welcome home pool party and barbeque.

The Amber’s returned to Arcadia Bay on June 14, 2008. Chloe had been floored when Rachel had sent her their new address and had realized it would be within the same neighborhood as her and Max. If they met up halfway between their two houses, it would only be about a 7 minute walk each. The night before the return, Kate and Max had stayed over at Chloe’s. The other two girls were anxious to meet _The Rachel Amber._ Yes, they had talked to her, but that felt different than actually meeting her in person. At 10am, Chloe got a text from Rachel saying that they had just gotten there and asking if they wanted to meet up with her. The 3 girls cheered and grabbed their skateboards, hurrying from the Tilton’s and heading towards the Amber’s house. Rachel had offered to meet them halfway, but the girls declined, stating that since they were going to her house, she didn’t need to make the trip.

Chloe, Kate and Max rounded the corner onto Rachel’s street, and a grin stole its way across the tallest girl’s face as she saw the moving truck and the moving men moving things into the house. She could see the outline of Rose and James and shared a happy look with her two friends. The group of three girls did ollies to get themselves up over the curb as they pulled to a stop in the Amber’s driveway.

“Chloe,” a voice screeched as the three girls kicked up their boards in seemingly perfect synchronization. The girl with the blue tips whipped her head towards the sound, opening her mouth to shout her hello’s to Rachel. She didn’t manage to get the words out as her mouth was instantly full of blond hair and the air was squeezed from her lungs. The voice continued tearfully as the owner of the voice backed away, “I missed you so much!”

“Hey, Rach,” Chloe said, eyes gleaming with happy tears, “It’s so great to see you again!”

“You must be Kate and Max,” the girl said, hurrying around Chloe and pulling each of the girls into a hug. “It’s awesome to finally meet you in person! Chloe told me she’s been teaching you to skate. I would love to help. It’ll be nice not to be the only girl at the skate park.”

“Welcome back to Arcadia,” Max said shyly, smiling at the girl. “Have you heard if you’ll be going to Blackwell next year?”

“I’m supposed to find out in July,” Rachel said with a quick shake of her head, “Thankfully dad had the foresight to put this address on the application, so it shouldn’t be delayed by mail being forwarded.”

“That’s good,” Kate said, “I don’t know if Chloe told you, but the three of us are going to try getting into Blackwell for our freshman year.”

“She did,” Rachel said, punching Chloe’s arm lightly, “I can help you study! It would be great for you to be in the school with me.”

“Our friend Steph applied for Blackwell this year, too,” Chloe told her, grin widening as Rose made her way over to them and pulled her into a hug.

“Chloe,” The woman gushed, “You’ve grown up so much. You’re taller than me, now. How are you doing?”

“Hi, Mrs. Amber,” Chloe responded, “I’ve been pretty good since the Tilton’s adopted me… Oh, speaking of my parents, they wanted me to invite you all over next weekend for barbeque and pool party… Though, the pool party will probably mostly be people around Rachel’s age and our parents.”

“That would be nice,” Rose replied, sending a smile at the girl. “I should probably get to know your new family like I knew your last one. Are these your new friends?”

“Yes,” Chloe said, nodding excitedly, “This is my sister Kate, and this is my Max… my neighbor and best friend, Max.”

Chloe blushed as she realized her slip and cleared her throat awkwardly while the brunette woman shook the other girl’s hands. She could see both Kate and Rachel smirking at her as her blush grew further down her neck. Thankfully, Max seemed to be completely oblivious to the slip, as usual.

“I think Rachel has mentioned you ladies in the past,” Rose said, smiling at the other two. “I guess Chloe had introduced you over the phone?”

“Yep,” Kate stated, smirk fading as she turned back to speak with the parent. “I’m so glad to finally meet her in person.”

The four teenagers eventually made their way into the house. Chloe could see that off to the right when they entered was a set of double doors that were wide open. Inside the room was a large desk, a set of filing cabinets, and built in bookcases. Rachel had explained that it would be her dad’s office and motioned for them to follow her up to her room. Chloe loved the ceiling in the room that had the exposed beams and smiled as she saw the stripes of alternating pink and blue. She could see that opposite the door, were more built in bookshelves, with built in dressers at the bottom. Above the bookshelf was a large open area that was triangular in shape to follow the slope of the ceiling.The four of them started to try and set up Rachel’s room. Max and Chloe were working on putting her bed set together, while Rachel and Kate positioned her desk across from where they planned to have her bed. On the wall next to the built-in bookshelf, the friends posted a map of the United States, taking Pins and marking the places Rachel had been.

The girls spent the next 2 hours setting up decorations in the room, while the movers brought in the last of the blonde’s furniture. The movers placed her box spring and mattress on her frame, and pushed a dresser into the room, returning a minute or so later with a red coat rack. Kate and Max worked to push the dresser against the wall that had Rachel’s headboard. Chloe was helping the other girl make up her bed, each of them grabbing the corners to try and get the fitted sheet on. Chloe had at one point boosted Max, as she was the lighted, up to try and hang a star that had lights going around it, while the other two girls stood back to tell her if it was centered or not. The four of them were giggling together as they continued to help Rachel feel more at home in her new house. Rose had come up with some drinks for them and her eyes widened in surprise as she saw that her daughter’s room was mostly set up. The four of them were spread out around the room. She saw Rachel moving some of her nicer clothes into her closet, while Max and Chloe were putting her clothes away in the dresser against her wall. Kate was sorting through items and positioning them on the built-in shelving. The friends gratefully took the drinks from her, gulping them down while the woman continued looking around her in shock.

“Wow,” Rose remarked, “Another hour and you’ll be all done.”

“We’re a good team,” Rachel said, smiling at the girls around her, who all looked back and nodded in agreement.

Rose left the room after another glance around, smiling at the thought of her daughter having so many people there for her already. The girl had done well in her old school, and she had had a friend come over a couple of times, but it had never seemed the same as it was when she was with Chloe. The four friends came downstairs later, stating that they were done with Rachel’s room and asking if they needed any more help. The woman was grateful and pointed the girls in different directions. Chloe was unpacking their curio cabinet very carefully. She recognized the glasses from before the family had moved and knew that they had been in the Amber family for generations. Rachel was in the kitchen trying to help her mom unpack their dishes and pantry items while the other two girls worked at unpacking things in the living room. James was adamant that he would be the only one to touch his office since he needed to know where everything was. Later that afternoon, Rachel had asked her mom if she could go back to Chloe’s to hang out with the girls. Rose had agreed, stating that the girls deserved an afternoon off after all the hard work they had made. Rachel had raced up to her room to grab one of her swimsuits and thew it into her backpack.

The four girls grabbed their skateboards and headed back to Chloe’s house, Rachel following behind them as they led her there. Chloe could hear Rachel’s surprised gasp as she saw her house for the first time. Chloe had smiled at her a bit awkwardly and pointed out Max’s house next door as the girls made their way up her driveway to leave their boards in the garage. The four of them trooped in through the garage and made their way out to the pool house. They paused as they saw Vanessa and Ryan hanging out at the pool with Chloe’s parents. The women were floating on pool floats while their husbands played one on one basketball with a foam ball.

“Hey,” Chloe chirped as the four of them came over to the edge of the pool. “We’re back, and we brought Rachel.”

“Hi Rachel,” Sheri said as she popped her head up to look at her. “I’ve heard a lot about you. Chloe talks about you a lot.”

“Hi,” Rachel laughed, “only good things, I hope.”

“Oh, of course,” The woman replied.

The girls hurried to change into their swimsuits and hurried back out to the pool. Rachel was looking and trying to decide how she wanted to get in. Chloe had run up the pool slide, while Max had screamed cannonball before running and jumping up, tucking her knees against her chest and sending a big splash into Ryan’s face. She resurfaced and started laughing as she saw the man sputtering indignantly. Kate had made her way over to a diving board and with perfect form dived into the pool. Vanessa watching and clapping, holding out ten fingers to show her the score. Rachel decided to take the same path as Chloe, scurrying up the slide and splashing down at the bottom. The four girls were spending their time competing to see who could do different things the best. Rachel could hold her breath the longest, but Kate was able to make the cleanest dives. While Chloe could do more somersaults front and back than any of the girls. The other three girls were surprised to see how fast Max could swim and joked that she should join the swim team.

Rose and James had ended up driving to pick up Rachel that night. By the time she was ready to leave, it was already dark outside, and they hadn’t wanted her skating home in the dark. Max had headed home with her parents 10 minutes before she had called her parents, leaving just the 3 girls left. The couple had pulled up in front of the house and gotten out to ring the bell and introduce themselves to Chloe’s new family. They made their way up the driveway and pressed the button, hearing loud barking coming from inside and someone telling ‘Maverick and Wilson’ to simmer down. The door opened revealing Sheri, who smiled at the couple and invited them in. The short woman walked to the bottom of the stairs and yelled up, telling Rachel that her parents were there.

The Amber’s heard another car pulling into the driveway and turned to look out the window as a car parked next to theirs. They saw a blond man get out of the driver’s seat as a 11 or 12-year-old blond girl got out of the car, holding the hand of an even smaller blond girl. The group made their way up the door and rang the bell, jumping in surprise as the door opened quickly to reveal Sheri and a brunette couple. He could see Dean walking in from the kitchen, who stated that he had let the dogs outside. Sheri introduced the couple to him as the Amber’s who were the parents of Chloe’s friend Rachel.

“Though,” Dean said with a laugh, “I’m quite sure the rest of the girls consider Rachel a great friend already.” 

Gabriel shook hands with the Amber’s and introduced himself. He was surprised they had already met Kate but was proud when he had heard how helpful she had been at their place. The adults heard the feet coming down the stairs and looked up, seeing the three friends making their way towards them. Lynn had wriggled free from Camille and raced toward Chloe, clamping her arms around her legs and glancing up at her. Chloe laughed lightly and bent to pick the girl up.

“Heya, Lynnie,” Chloe said, smoothing down the girl’s hair as she carried her back over to Gabriel and Camille. “Hi!”

“Hey Chloe,” Gabriel said, pulling her into a hug after Camille had already done so.

“Gabriel,” Dean said suddenly, “We’re having a pool party and barbeque next Saturday. Would you all like to come?”

“Of course,” The blond agreed, sending a smile to his friend.

“Chloe, did you ask the Amber’s when you saw them earlier,” Sheri asked, looking at her teenaged daughter.

“She did,” Rose said, smiling, “We would love to. Thank you for the invite.”

“Of course,” Sheri smiled, “We’re glad to have you. We enjoy getting to know the families of our daughter’s friends.”

Both of the families eventually made their way outside. Chloe, Max, and Rachel ended up hanging out together almost every day for the rest of the week. Kate joined them when she could, but since she wasn’t within walking distance didn’t get to see them as often. Chloe had heard from the girl that she was hanging still spending time learning to skate with Trevor and Justin. She had sent a text to them on Thursday night to ask if they and their parent’s wanted to come to the party on Saturday. The two boys had confirmed and had showed up with their parents on the 21st. The skaters and their families were showed to the backyard. They could see a group of kids in the pool, but Justin and Trevor only recognized 3 of them.

“Trevor! Justin,” Chloe shouted as she jumped out of the pool, making her way over to them to share a fist bump, Max and Kate had jumped out behind her and were smiling at them. “Let me introduce you to everyone! You obviously know Max and Kate. These are my parents Dean and Sheri Tilton. Those are Max’s parents, Vanessa and Ryan. The blond guy there is Kate’s dad, Gabriel. This is Anthony North, and you haven’t met his kids yet.”

“These are my parents, Sarah and Shane, and my little brother Shiloh” Justin said, pointing to his parents, then a little boy who looked around 6.

“and this is my mom, Theresa,” Trevor said as his mom reached out to shake the girl’s hands.

The next couple of minutes was spent introducing Trevor and Justin to Drew, Mikey, Steph and Rachel and then Kate’s younger siblings. Lynn and Shiloh had immediately realized they were close in age and had run off to grab him a life jacket so they could play together. The adults were sitting on the patio furniture, having drinks and sharing funny stories while Dean and Ryan worked on grilling the food. Ryan had decided to wheel over his own grill when he had heard how many people were going to be there. James stood nearby chatting with them about the most recent Mariners game. The man had been glad to find that both of them were fan’s of his favorite team. Sheri, Vanessa and Rose were sharing a bottle of wine and laughing at their husbands love of baseball. Anthony, Gabriel, Sarah, Shane, and Theresa were playing poker at a table getting to know one another.

“So, you’re the parents of Trevor and Justin,” Gabriel asked, smiling at the three new parents he was meeting, “I know she’s been spending quite a bit of time with them. They’re helping her learn to skate when she’s not able to make it over to the Park to practice with Chloe and Max.”

“Yeah,” Theresa smiled, “I’ve actually met her a couple of times when she’s dropped by to knock and see if Trev’s available. She seems like a very sweet girl.”

“She is,” Gabriel said, looking at his daughter as she climbed on Trevor’s shoulders to play chicken against Max who was on Justin’s. “She’s had a rough year, but she seems to be holding up. She’s really come out of her shell since she met Chloe.”

“Yeah,” Theresa said, looking down sadly, “Trevor mentioned that she had told him of some struggles with her mom. I guess they talk with each other about the struggles of only really having one parent.”

“Oh,” Gabriel said shifting uncomfortably, “I didn’t know your husband had passed.”

“He didn’t,” Theresa responded, “He left when Trevor was 10. Said he wasn’t meant to have a family.”

“That’s horrible,” Anthony said, staring across at her, “people are idiots.”

“I never liked him,” Sarah said, looking at Theresa with a frown on her face, “I should have said something before they got so bad. Though, I guess at least Trevor came from that relationship… and I know it can be hard to put yourself back out there.”

“It’s hard,” Theresa told her best friend, “ _He_ really shattered my confidence. I never told Trevor this part, but his dad used to beat the crap out of me, so I’m afraid I’ll find someone like that.”

“I get that,” Gabriel said, giving her a sad look, “When I caught Karen in bed with our pastor, I felt like she had ripped out my heart. I knew I could never trust her again, and it makes it hard to trust anyone else.”

“So, do you have full custody of your kids,” Shane asked, looking at the blond, “It seems like Kate is always hanging around with our kids. I figured she must live nearby.”

“Yeah,” Gabriel said, nodding sadly, “Karen slapped Kate in the face, which helped me to get full custody of the kids. She is still just getting supervised visits. Though, I haven’t told the kids this yet, but she’s talking about moving out of state with her lover. She wants a fresh start with her new baby and fiancé. I know Kate won’t mind, but I worry about the younger two.”

“Wow,” Theresa said, “She sounds just like my ex-husband.”

Their attention was drawn as Ryan came to stand next to the table to inform them that lunch was done before he headed to the pool to yell at the kids to get it while it’s still hot. They all hurried from the pool, piling their plates with cheeseburgers, bratwursts, hotdogs, barbeque chicken, potato salad, fresh vegetables with dip, potato chips, and baked beans. They had pretty much anything that anyone would want. The adults were already talking about having another get together on the fourth of July and making steaks and ribs. The youngest two kids were making silly faces at each other as they ate their hotdogs and potato chips. Gabriel kept having to tell Lynn to chew with her mouth closed.

Later that night, the group split into groups to play a game of capture the flag. Lynn and Shiloh were inside and asleep already. Sheri, Theresa, Rose and James hadn’t really wanted to run around in the dark, so they all sat in the living room chatting quietly over glasses of wine. The rest of the group had split into even teams, adults vs. kids, and had taken off to hide their flags. It had been a rough game, but Drew had managed to run the adult’s flag back to their camp while Ryan and Anthony tried to chase him down.

“If you don’t, you should play football,” Ryan panted as he caught up to the teenager and bent to catch his breath, “You’d make a good quarterback.”

“I actually play for the Blackwell Bigfoots,” Drew told him, clapping him on the shoulder with a grin.

The excitement of the teens had been palpable as they realized they had won. They had been in high spirits for the rest of the night, until they started leaving family by family. Gabriel was seen exchanging numbers with Shane, Sarah, and Theresa. They all thought it was a good idea to have each other’s numbers so they could reach one another if any of the kids were ever hurt while skating. Plus, Sarah was wanting to set up a play date for Lynn and Shiloh. Rose had hugged both Sheri and Vanessa. She had really enjoyed spending time with them, and she could tell James had enjoyed hanging out with their husbands. He was already inviting them out for pizza, drinks, and to watch the next game. Chloe had hugged each of her friends goodbye as they left. She was reminding some of them about their DnD day the next Saturday and asking them to text Steph if they couldn’t make it. Eventually the family was alone, and were able to make their way upstairs to go to bed.


End file.
